Potential role of O-GlcNAcylation and involvement of PI3K/Akt1 pathway in the expression of oncogenic phenotypes of gastric cancer cells in vitro.

O-GlcNAcylation is a monosaccharide modification by a residue of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) attached to serine or threonine moieties on nuclear and cytoplasmic proteins. O-GlcNAcylation is dynamically regulated by O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). Increasing evidence suggests that O-GlcNAcylation is involved in a variety of human cancers. However, the exact role of O-GlcNAcylation in tumor progression remains unclear. Here, we show that O-GlcNAcylation accelerates oncogenic phenotypes of gastric cancer. First, cell models with increased or decreased O-GlcNAcylation were constructed by OGT overexpression, downregulation of OGA activity with specific inhibitor Thiamet-G, or silence of OGT. MTT assays indicated that O-GlcNAcylation increased proliferation of gastric cancer cells. Soft agar assay and Transwell assays showed that O-GlcNAcylation significantly enhanced cellular colony formation, migration, and invasion in vitro. Akt1 activity was stimulated by upregulation of phosphorylation at Ser473 mediated by elevated O-GlcNAcylation. The enhanced cell invasion by Thiamet-G treatment was suppressed by PI3K inhibitor LY294002. Although the cell invasion induced by Thiamet-G was reduced by Akt1 shRNA, it was still higher in comparison with that to the control (cells with Akt1 shRNA alone). And Akt1 overexpression promoted Thiamet-G-induced cell invasion. These results suggested that O-GlcNAcylation enhanced oncogenic phenotypes possibly partially involving PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.