AUTHOR=Sun Lisha , Chen Guanglei , Sun Anqi , Wang Zheng , Huang Haibo , Gao Ziming , Liang Weitian , Liu Caigang , Li Kai 

TITLE=BAG2 Promotes Proliferation and Metastasis of Gastric Cancer via ERK1/2 Signaling and Partially Regulated by miR186

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2020.00031

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2020.00031

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<p>Bcl2-associated athanogene (BAG)2 as a co-chaperone has been demonstrated to be involved in tumor growth and metastasis, but its biological function in gastric cancer remains unknown. Here, we reported that BAG2 was highly expressed in gastric cancer cell lines and tissues, indicating poor prognosis. High expression of BAG2 was significantly associated with T stage and differentiation level of gastric cancer (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001). Functional experiments revealed that <italic>BAG2</italic> knockdown in gastric cancer cells inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of cells through AKT/mTOR and extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) pathways. Proteomic analysis identified that BAG2 may be involved in the regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. In addition, immunoprecipitation showed that BAG2 could bind to ERK1/2. Luciferase reporter assay and Western blot verified that <italic>BAG2</italic> was down-regulated by miR186. Taken together, our findings may reveal the basic function of BAG2 and uncover a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer.</p>