Expression and clinical significance of RHCG in endometrial cancer

Abstract

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynecological cancer. Rhesus family, C glycoprotein (RHCG) has been evidenced to be involved in the occurrence and development of various tumors. This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of RHCG in EC. Bioinformatics analysis was based on the RNAseq counts data from TCGA database, and the prognosis analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method; 4 cases of endometrioid adenocarcinomas samples and 4 cases of normal proliferative endometrium were collected for qPCR and western blot; immunohistochemistry analysis was employed to assess the expression of RHCG in a tissue microarray; the correlation between RHCG and clinicopathological factors was analyzed through Mann-Whitney U test. The lentiviral interference vector was further constructed. The results demonstrated that RHCG was highly expressed in EC tissues, and RHCG was an independent factor affecting the overall survival of patients. Additionally, the expression of RHCG was related to FIGO stage and tumor infiltrate. After interfering with shRHCG, the proliferation activity of EC cells decreased, the migration ability of cells decreased, the apoptosis of cells increased, and the tumor outgrowth was arrested. In summary, RHCG promotes the malignant proliferation and migration of EC, and makes the cells have anti-apoptotic activity. Our study provides a theoretical basis for RHCG to become a potential therapeutic target for EC in the future