Diosgenin inhibits the proliferation of gastric cancer cells via inducing mesoderm posterior 1 down-regulation-mediated alternative reading frame expression

Introduction Whether and how mesoderm posterior 1 (MESP1) plays a role in the proliferation of gastric cancer cells remain unclear. Methods The expression of MESP1 was compared in 48 human gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Knockdown of MESP1 was performed to investigate the role of MESP1 in the proliferation and apoptosis of BGC-823 and MGC-803 gastric cancer cells. Knockdown of alternative reading frame (ARF) was performed to study the role of ARF in the inhibitory effect of MESP1 knockdown on cell proliferation in gastric cancer cells. Mouse subcutaneous xenograft tumor model bearing BGC-823 cells was used to investigate the role of MESP1 in the growth of gastric tumor in vivo. The effect of seven active ingredients from T. terrestris on MESP1 expression was tested. The anti-cancer effect of diosgenin was confirmed in gastric cancer cells. MESP1 dependence of the anti-cancer effect of diosgenin was confirmed by MESP1 knockdown. Results MESP1 was highly expressed in human gastric cancer tissues (p < 0.05). MESP1 knockdown induced apoptosis and up-regulated the expression of ARF in gastric cancer cells (p < 0.05). Knockdown of ARF attenuated the anti-cancer effect of MESP1 knockdown (p < 0.05). In addition, MESP1 knockdown also suppressed tumor growth in vivo (p < 0.05). Diosgenin inhibits both mRNA and protein expression of MESP1 (p < 0.05). MESP1 knockdown attenuated the anti-cancer effect of diosgenin (p < 0.05). Conclusions MESP1 promotes the proliferation of gastric cancer cells via inhibiting ARF expression. Diosgenin exerts anti-cancer effect through inhibiting MESP1 expression in gastric cancer cells.