Purpose: Zinc finger SWIM-type containing 5 (ZSWIM5) is a newly discovered protein, which contains a novel zinc-chelating domain SWIM (CxCxnCxH), and is predicted to interact with DNA or proteins. Currently, the knowledge of functions of ZSWIM5 remains limited. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the biological functions of ZSWIM5 and their mechanisms.
Patients and methods: We detected the expression of ZSWIM5 in samples from 139 cases of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and six cell lines using immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Moreover, we explored the biological functions of ZSWIM5 in lung cancer cells by siRNA interference and cDNA transfection of ZSWIM5.
Results: The results showed that compared with adjacent non-tumor lung tissues, ZSWIM5 expression was significantly decreased in NSCLC tissues (P=0.0199) and that the ZSWIM5-positive rate in non-tumor tissues (76.67%) was notably higher than that in NSCLC tissues (40.29%). ZSWIM5 expression in human normal bronchial epithelial cells was also much higher than that in lung cancer lines (P<0.001). ZSWIM5-negative expression was significantly related to TNM stage (P<0.001), lymph node metastasis (P=0.002), and poor prognosis (P<0.001) of NSCLC patients. MTT and colony formation assays showed that ZSWIM5 could inhibit the proliferation and colony formation abilities of lung cancer cells. Meanwhile, the results of transwell and wound healing assays showed that ZSWIM5 could suppress the invasion and migration of lung cancer cells. Further investigation revealed that ZSWIM5 could downregulate cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin A2, MMP2, and MMP9 expression, which affected the proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities of lung cancer cells.
Conclusion: ZSWIM5 could inhibit the malignant progression of NSCLC by affecting the expression of cyclins and MMPs.
Keywords: NSCLC; invasion; migration; proliferation; zinc finger.