ILT4 REGULATES THE INVASION AND MIGRATION OF NSCLC CELLS BY REGULATING PI3K-AKT SIGNALING PATHWAY

Guowei Liu^{1, #}, Huanjuan Yang^{2, #}, Wenhua Liu³, Chunchao Peng⁴, Xiaoling Zheng⁴, Husai Ma^{1, *}

¹Department of Thoracic Surgery, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China - ²Department of Medical, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China - ³Department of Nephrology, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China - ⁴Department of Anesthesiology, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China

Introduction: To analyze the inhibitory effect of silencing immunoglobulin-like transcription factor 4 (ILT4) on invasion and migration of non-small cell lung cancer cells through positive regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signaling pathway. 

Methods: 40 cases of NSCLC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were collected from April 2019 to February 2020 in our hospital. The expression of ILT4 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and adjacent normal tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. A549 cells were cultured, and the si-ilt4 plasmid was transfected into A549 cells. After 4 hours of culture, the low expression group of ILT4 was obtained, and the control group was set up at the same time. Four multiple groups were set in each group. Transwell invasion assay was used to determine the invasion ability of the two groups. The cell migration ability of the two groups was measured by cell scratch test. The expression levels of ILT4, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (Akt) in the two groups were measured by protein imprinting method. 

Results: The expression of ILT4 in lung cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues. Compared with the control group, the expression levels of ILT4, PI3K and Akt in the low expression group of ILT4 were significantly decreased (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the invasion and migration ability of ILT4 low expression group was significantly decreased (P<0.01). 

Conclusion: Silencing ILT4 expression may inhibit the invasion and migration of NSCLC cells by regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.