Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of PCGF1 in rectal adenocarcinoma (READ) and the effect of PCGF1 silencing on proliferation READ cells in vitro. Methods The UALCAN and ENCORI online databases were used to analyze the expression level of PCGF1 in READ tissues and normal tissues and its association with the clinicopathological parameters and survival outcomes of patients with READ. The expression levels of PCGF1 were detected in two READ cell lines and a normal rectal epithelial cell line (HcoEpiC cells) using qPCR and Western blotting. Lentiviral vectors were used to construct PCGF1-overexpressing and PCGF1-silenced cell lines, and the proliferative activity of the cells was assessed using CCK-8 assay. The effect of PCGF1 silencing on tumor proliferation in vivo was also evaluated by observing tumorigenicity of the cells in nude mice. Results PCGF1 was highly expressed in READ tissue (P<0.001), and its expression levels was correlated with READ stage, differentiation and lymph node metastasis (P<0.001). A high PCGF1 expression level was associated with a poor survivalo utcome of READ patients (P<0.05). In SW837 and SW1463 cells, PCGF1 silencing significantly lowered the proliferative activity of the cells both in vitro (P<0.05) and in nude mice (P<0.01). Conclusion PCGF1 is highly expressed in READ tissue and may potentially serve as a prognostic biomarker as well as a therapeutic target for READ.

Key words: polycomb group; PCGF1; rectal adenocarcinoma; proliferation; survival outcomes