Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Mar 15, 2024; 16(3): 991-1005
Published online Mar 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i3.991
Mitochondrial carrier homolog 2 increases malignant phenotype of human gastric epithelial cells and promotes proliferation, invasion, and migration of gastric cancer cells
Jing-Wen Zhang, Ling-Yan Huang, Ya-Ning Li, Ying Tian, Jia Yu, Xiao-Fei Wang
Jing-Wen Zhang, Ya-Ning Li, Jia Yu, School of Basic Medical Science, NHC Key Laboratory of Metabolic Cardiovascular Diseases Research, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Ling-Yan Huang, Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Ying Tian, School of Clinical Medicine, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China
Xiao-Fei Wang, Department of Pathology, North China University of Science and Technology Affiliated Hospital, Tangshan 063000, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang JW and Wang XF designed the research study; Yu J, Zhang JW, Tian Y, and Li YN performed the research; Huang LY, Li YN, and Tian Y analyzed the data; Huang LY, Wang XF, and Yu J wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by the Medical Science Research Projects in Hebei Province, No. 20221526; and Natural Science Foundation, No. 2022-271.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the North China University of Science and Technology Institutional Review Board (Approval No. 2022032).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at ztjwjwzt@163.com.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jing-Wen Zhang, MD, Associate Professor, School of Basic Medical Science, NHC Key Laboratory of Metabolic Cardiovascular Diseases Research, Ningxia Medical University, No. 1160 Shengli Street, Xingqing District, Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. ztjwjwzt@163.com
Received: October 20, 2023
Peer-review started: October 20, 2023
First decision: December 5, 2023
Revised: December 21, 2023
Accepted: January 19, 2024
Article in press: January 19, 2024
Published online: March 15, 2024
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Mitochondrial carrier homolog 2 (MTCH2), as an insertion enzyme of mitochondrial outer membrane protein, plays an important role in cellular production, energy expenditure and apoptosis induced by mitochondrial permeability transformation pore (mPTP) opening.

Research motivation

MTCH2 has been poorly studied in gastric cancer. The addition of MTCH2 research will provide a broader idea for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Research objectives

To investigate the precise role of MTCH2 in gastric cancer will providing a basis for the targeted therapy of gastric cancer.

Research methods

Sixty-five samples of poorly differentiated gastric cancer tissue and adjacent tissues were collected for MTCH2 and ATP2A2 expression detection. JC-1, mPTP, and ATP fluorescence probe were used for mitochondrial function detection. Wound healing, transwell, and colony formation assay were used for cell migration and proliferation evaluation. Western blotting experiments were conducted to detect the changes in the expression levels of related proteins.

Research results

Both MTCH2 and ATP2A2 are highly expressed in gastric cancer. MTCH2 promotes proliferation and migration of gastric cancer cells, enhances mitochondrial activity, and inhibits apoptosis.

Research conclusions

MTCH2 plays an important role in cellular production, energy expenditure and apoptosis in gastric cancer cells.

Research perspectives

We speculate that the regulation of MTCH2 opening to mPTP may be related to the regulatory mechanism of calcium homeostasis, which will be further studied in the future.