Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of profilin 2 (PFN2) in gastric cancer and assess its potential value as a novel prognostic indicator and a therapeutic target. Methods We collected gastric cancer and paired adjacent tissues from 100 patients for immunohistochemical detection of PFN2 expression. According to the expression level of PFN2, the patients were divided into two groups with high (46 cases) and low (48 cases) PNF2 expression in cancer tissues, and also into two groups with high (26 cases) and low (49 cases) PNF2 expression in adjacent tissues. Chi-square test, Spearman correlation and KaplanMeier survival analysis were used to analyze the relationship between PFN2 protein expression level and the patients' clinical parameters. We also tested the effects of PFN2 knockdown and overexpression on the proliferation and migration of MKN-45 cells using Transwell assay and CCK-8 assay. Results The expression of PFN2 protein was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in adjacent tissues (P<0.01). PFN2 expression was positively correlated with M-stage of gastric cancer and VEGFR expression in the tumor tissues (P<0.01). A high expression of PFN2 protein was significantly correlated with a poor prognosis of gastric cancer patients (P<0.01), and was an independent predictor of the prognosis of gastric cancer. In MKN-45 cells, the cells overexpressing PFN2 showed significantly stronger proliferation and migration abilities than those with PFN2 knockdown (P<0.001). Conclusion PFN2 protein is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues to promote the proliferation and migration of the tumor cells. PFN2 may serve as a potential diagnostic marker, a prognostic indicator and a therapeutic target for gastric cancer.

Key words: gastric cancer; profilin 2; MKN-45 cells