Down-regulation of SIX3 is associated with clinical outcome in lung adenocarcinoma

Lung cancer is a common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. SIX3 is a human homologue of the highly conserved sine oculis gene family essential during embryonic development in vertebrates, and encodes a homeo-domain containing transcription factor. Little is known about the role of SIX3 in human tumorigenesis. This study is to assess the expression/function of SIX3 and the significance of SIX3 as a prognostic biomarker in lung adenocarcinoma.

Quantitative real-time RT-PCR was used to analyze SIX3 mRNA expression and quantitative methylation specific PCR (MSP) was used to examine promoter methylation. MTS and colony formation assays were performed to examine cell proliferation. Wound healing assays were used to assess cell migration, and microarrays were utilized to examine genes regulated by SIX3 in lung cancer cells. Association of SIX3 expression levels with clinical outcomes of patients with lung adenocarcinoma was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method and a multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model.

SIX3 was down-regulated in lung adenocarcinoma tissues compared to their matched adjacent normal tissues, and this down-regulation was associated with methylation of the SIX3 promoter. SIX3 was also methylation-silenced in lung cancer cell lines. Restoration of SIX3 in lung cancer cells lacking endogenous SIX3 suppressed cell proliferation and migration, and downregulated a number of genes involved in proliferation and metastasis such as S100P, TGFB3, GINS3 and BAG1. Moreover, SIX3 mRNA expression was associated with significantly improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in adenocarcinoma patients and patients with bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) features.

SIX3 may play an important role as a novel suppressor in human lung cancer. SIX3 has potential as a novel prognostic biomarker for patients with lung adenocarcinomas.