Knockdown of Aurora-B inhibits osteosarcoma cell invasion and migration via modulating PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Increasing evidences reveal that Aurora-B may be involved in metastasis of malignant tumor. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of Aurora-B on invasion and migration of OS cells and the activity of PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway in vitro. The expression of Aurora-B and p-Akt (Ser473) proteins was detected by immunohistochemistry in OS tissues from 24 patients with pulmonary metastatic disease, and the relationship between Aurora-B and p-Akt was investigated. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between Aurora-B and p-Akt protein expression. Furthermore, we down-regulated the expression of Aurora-B through a recombinant lentivirus (Lv-shAURKB). Migration and invasion of cells were investigated by wound healing and transwell invasion assays. Results showed that silencing Aurora-B inhibited cell migratory and invasive ability of OS cells in vitro. Finally, knockdown of Aurora-B suppresses the activity of PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway in OS cells. Our results indicated that knockdown of Aurora-B suppresses OS cells migratory and invasive ability via modulating the "PI3K/Akt/NF-κB" signaling pathway in vitro. The Aurora-B blocker may be a new therapeutic strategy in OS management.