Data_Sheet_4_Calpain2 Upregulation Regulates EMT-Mediated Pancreatic Cancer Metastasis via the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway.ZIP

Calpains2 (CAPN2) is a calcium-dependent, non-lysosomal cysteine protease that plays critical roles in normal cellular functions and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and metastasis. However, the role and underlying regulatory mechanisms of CAPN2 in pancreatic cancer (PC) are still unknown. We found that CAPN2 is highly expressed in PC tissues and associated with poor PC prognosis by using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) datasets, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets, and PC tissue arrays. CAPN2 downregulation significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and regulated Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in PC cells. Our findings highlight the significance of CAPN2 in tumor regression and, thus, indicate that CAPN2 could be a promising target for PC treatment.

钙激活酶2（Calpains2, CAPN2）是一种钙依赖性非溶酶体半胱氨酸蛋白酶，在正常细胞功能及包括肿瘤发生、癌症进展与转移在内的病理过程中发挥关键作用。然而，CAPN2在胰腺癌（pancreatic cancer, PC）中的作用及其潜在调控机制仍未明确。本研究通过癌症基因组图谱（The Cancer Genome Atlas, TCGA）数据集、基因表达综合数据库（Gene Expression Omnibus, GEO）数据集以及胰腺癌组织芯片，发现CAPN2在胰腺癌组织中呈高表达状态，且与胰腺癌不良预后显著相关。下调CAPN2的表达可显著抑制胰腺癌细胞的增殖、迁移与侵袭能力，并调控Wnt/β-连环蛋白信号通路介导的上皮间质转化（epithelial-mesenchymal transition, EMT）过程。本研究结果凸显了CAPN2在肿瘤消退中的重要意义，表明CAPN2有望成为胰腺癌治疗的潜在靶点。