Knockdown of IARS2 suppressed growth of gastric cancer cells by regulating the phosphorylation of cell cycle-related proteins.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the role of IARS2 in proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle of gastric cancer (GC) cells in vitro. The IARS2-shRNA lentiviral vector was established and used to infect the GC cell line AGS. qRT-PCR and Western blot were employed to determine the efficiency of IARS2 knockdown. The effects of IARS2 knockdown on cell proliferation, cell clone formation, and cell cycle were assessed by MTT assay, colony formation assay, and flow cytometer analysis, respectively. Finally, a PathScan Antibody Array Kit was used to detect the expression levels of cell cycle-related proteins after IARS2 knockdown in AGS cells to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Compared with negative control group, IARS2 was significantly knocked down by transfection with lentivirus encoding shRNA of IARS2 in AGS cells. IARS2 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation and colony formation ability and induced cycle arrest at G2/M phase of AGS cells. IARS2 knockdown significantly decreased the expression levels of phosphorylation of (p-Smad2), p-SAPK/JUK, cleavage-Caspase-7, and p-TAK1, but increased the expression levels of p-53 and cleavage-PARP in AGS cells compared to shCtrl group. We demonstrated that IARS2 knockdown inhibits proliferation, suppresses colony formation, and causes cell cycle arrest in AGS cells. We also found that IARS2 regulates key molecules of cell apoptosis-related signaling pathway.