RhoA regulates invasion of glioma cells via the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase pathway under hypoxia.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism of glioma cell invasion in hypoxic conditions. We demonstrated that hypoxia increased cell invasion, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) activity and time-dependent expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in human glioma cells. These data suggest that MMP2 may play a significant role in tumor invasion in hypoxic conditions. We investigated the mechanisms involved in the increased MMP2 activity and cell invasion in hypoxic conditions. Increased expression of phospho-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (p-JNK) and phospho-c-Jun (p-c-Jun) in glioma cells induced by hypoxia was detected. Furthermore, this effect may be reduced by inhibiting the JNK signaling pathway. We found that inhibition of RhoA geranylgeranylation by geranylgeranyltransferase inhibitor-2147 (GGTI-2147) or knockdown of RhoA by siRNA against RhoA reduced the expression of p-JNK and p-c-Jun, and decreased MMP2 activity and glioma cell invasion in hypoxic conditions. These data suggest a link among RhoA, JNK, c-Jun and MMP2 activity that is functionally involved in the increased glioma cell invasion induced by hypoxia.