cPLA2a correlates with metastasis and poor prognosis of osteosarcoma by facilitating epithelial-mesenchymal transition

BackgroundOsteosarcoma (OS) patients with metastasis have very dismal prognoses, and lack effective target therapies. Overexpression of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA₂) has been shown to promote progression in several types of cancers, but its functions in OS have not been investigated.Materials and methodsIn our study, the expression of cPLA₂a was detected with immunohistochemistry in 102 cases of OS. The clinical significance of cPLA₂a was evaluated by analyzing its correlation with clinicopathological factors. The prognostic significance of cPLA₂a was estimated by univariate and multivariate analysis. The oncogenic functions of cPLA₂a on cell proliferation and invasion were investigated by MTT assay and tranwell assay respectively. Western blotting was applied to detect the markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) after silencing cPLA₂a expression or inhibiting its activity by a specific antagonist.ResultsIn our study, high expression of cPLA₂a was significantly associated with metastasis and advanced Enneking stage. High cPLA₂a expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis and it was an independent prognostic biomarker of OS. By silencing cPLA₂a or inhibiting its activity by a specific antagonist, we demonstrated that cPLA₂a promoted cell invasion of OS cells via inducing the EMT process.ConclusionsHigh cPLA₂a expression was an independent prognostic biomarker of OS, and cPLA₂a could promote OS cell invasion via inducing the EMT process, indicating that cPLA₂a was an independent prognostic biomarker and may be an effective drug target for OS.