Overexpression of the pituitary tumor transforming gene upregulates metastasis in malignant neoplasms of the human salivary glands.

Salivary gland malignant neoplasms (SGMNs) represent a group of malignant solid tumors with heterogeneity in their cellular make-up, which causes difficulty with regard to the immunohistochemical confirmation of their cytological features. In the present study, overexpression of the pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG) was evaluated in human mucoepidermoid carcinoma specimens with a submaxillary salivary gland origin by immunohistochemical analysis, western blot analysis and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, a SGMN cell line was constructed, namely A-253 PTTG (+), which overexpressed PTTG. Subsequently, the regulatory role of PTTG in the proliferation and migration of A-253 cells was investigated. The immunohistochemical results demonstrated that there was a higher rate of PTTG-positive cells in the SGMN tissues when compared with the control submaxillary salivary gland tissues. Furthermore, PTTG expression at a mRNA and protein level was significantly higher in the SGMN specimens when compared with the control specimens. In addition, the rates of proliferation and migration of the A-253 PTTG (+) cells were significantly higher compared with the A-253 PTTG (-) cells. Therefore, PTTG was demonstrated to play an important role in SGMN cell proliferation and migration, and may subsequently be a notable marker for SGMN diagnosis and a potential target for anticancer therapy.