RUVBL1-modulated chromatin remodeling alters the transcriptional activity of oncogenic CTNNB1 in uveal melanoma

Recent years have witnessed an increasing research interest in the therapeutic value of aberrant chromatin regulatory processes in carcinogenesis. Our study was performed to explore the possible carcinogenic mechanism of the chromatin regulator RuvB-like protein 1 (RUVBL1) in uveal melanoma (UVM). The expression pattern of RUVBL1 was retrieved in bioinformatics data. The correlation between RUVBL1 expression and the prognosis of patients with UVM was analyzed in publicly available database. The downstream target genes of RUVBL1 were predicted and further verified by co-immunoprecipitation. The bioinformatics analysis results showed that RUVBL1 may be associated with the transcriptional activity of CTNNB1 by regulating chromatin remodeling, and that RUVBL1 functioned as an independent prognostic factor for patients with UVM. The UVM cells manipulated with RUVBL1 knockdown were introduced for in vitro investigation. CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, scratch assay, Transwell assay and Western blot analysis were used for detection on the resultant UVM cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and cell cycle distribution. In vitro cell experimental data showed that RUVBL1 expression was significantly increased in UVM cells and RUVBL1 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of UVM cells, accompanied by augmented apoptosis rate and blocked cell cycle progression. To sum up, RUVBL1 enhances the malignant biological characteristics of UVM cells by increasing the chromatin remodeling and subsequent transcription activity of CTNNB1.