QKI-5 suppresses cyclin D1 expression and proliferation of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells via MAPK signalling pathway.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most frequently occurring malignancies in the world. The RNA-binding protein quaking (QKI) is a newly identified tumour suppressor in multiple cancers, but its role in OSCC is currently unknown. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the relationship between QKI expression and OSCC development. We found QKI-5 expression to be significantly decreased in the oral cancer cell line CAL-27. QKI-5 overexpression also reduced the proliferation of CAL-27 cells, which correlated with cyclin D1. This regulative function of QKI-5 occurs by modulating the phosphorylation level of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Therefore this study shows that underexpression of tumour suppressor QKI-5 could activate the MAPK pathway and contribute to uncontrolled cyclin D1 expression, thus resulting in increased proliferation of oral cancer cells.