Down-regulated MAC30 expression inhibits breast cancer cell invasion and EMT by suppressing Wnt/β-catenin and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways

Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer mortality in women worldwide. MAC30/Transmembrane protein 97 (TMEM97) is aberrantly up-regulated in many human carcinoma cells. However, the function of MAC30 in invasion and EMT of BC cells is uncertain. qRT-PCR was used to determine the level of MAC30 in BC tissues and cell lines. si-MAC30 was transfected into BC cells, and the effects of MAC30 silencing on the invasion and EMT were explored by qRT-PCR as well as transwell and western blot assays. Also, we determined the effects of MAC30 silencing on Wnt/β-catenin and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways by western blot. We found that MAC30 is significantly up-regulated in BC tissues and cell lines. Down-regulation of MAC30 expression efficiently inhibited the invasion of BC cells. Furthermore, the EMT of BC cells was also inhibited by down-regulation of MAC30. Finally, we found that MAC30 knockdown inhibited Akt phosphorylation, β-catenin, survivin, and cyclin D1 expressions. To our knowledge, this is the first report investigating the effect of MAC30 on invasion and EMT in BC cells by suppressing Wnt/β-catenin and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. MAC30 may be a potential therapeutic target for BC.