SKA1 is overexpressed in laryngocarcinoma and modulates cell growth via P53 signaling pathway

Laryngocarcinoma is one of the most frequent malignancies occurring in the head and neck. The roles of spindle- and kinetochore-associated complex 1 (SKA1) in the malignant progression of several cancers have already been discussed. However, the precise significance and action's mechanism of SKA1 in laryngocarcinoma remain largely unknown. In this study, SKA1 was shown to be strongly expressed in laryngocarcinoma tissues and cells, and higher expression of SKA1 was associated with more severe tumor infiltration, larger tumor diameter, higher risk of lymphatic metastasis and later pathological stage. Additionally, loss-of-function assays in vitro suggested that SKA1 depletion caused a reduction in cell proliferation, migration, and colony formation as well as an increase in apoptosis. In animal experiments, tumors generated from AMC-HN-8 cells with SKA1 depletion exhibited declined tumor volume and weight. Similarly, the detection of Ki67 protein in xenograft tumor tissues reflected that knocking down SKA1 curbed tumor growth in vivo. Further exploration on downstream mechanism revealed that after treatment with Pifithrin-α, the suppression in proliferation level caused by SKA1 knockdown was reversed, while the increase of cell apoptosis was withdrawn; at the molecular level, Pifithrin-α treatment caused p-P53 and Bax diminished, while Bcl-2 ameliorated. In short, SKA1 promotes the development of laryngocarcinoma via activating the P53 signaling pathway.