TFF3 mediated induction of VEGF via hypoxia in human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells.

Increasing evidence indicates that in gastric epithelial cells, induction of TFF3 by hypoxia is mediated by HIF-1. Since VEGF is one of the most important angiogenic factors on cancer progression, we have started to investigate the possible link among HIF-1α, VEGF, and TFF3 in gastric cancer cells. We induced the hypoxic condition in SGC-7901cells using hypoxia-mimetic agent of CoCI2. SGC7901 cells were transfected with pcPUR + U6 plasmid carrying RNAi targeted to human TFF3 and selected puromycin-resistant pools to establish the stable knockdown of TFF3 cells. Our results showed the induction of HIF-1a via hypoxia and consequences of increased expressions of the TFF3 and VEGF in gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. Overexpression of TFF3 upregulated the mRNA expressions of VEGF and HIF-1a induced by hypoxia, and stable knockdown of TFF3 impaired the mRNA upregulations of VEGF and HIF-1a induced by hypoxia. Furthermore, knockdown of TFF3 reduced the VEGF protein secretion: as VEGF secretion was increased time dependent manner in response to the hypoxia induction in TFF3-WT cells; however, VEGF production was significantly decreased in TFF3-KD cells (621 ± 89 vs. 264 ± 73 at 6 h and 969 ± 97 vs. 508 ± 69 at 12 h, P < 0.05). Our data demonstrated the TFF3 mediated regulation of VEGF expression induced by hypoxia, and implicated that TFF3 might be applied as a potential anti-angiogenic target for treatment of gastric cancer.