Abstract:Objective To explore the expression of TUSC3 in cervical cancer tissues and its effects on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells.Methods Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression level of TUSC3 in cervical cancer tissue, and the relationship between its expression and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. TUSC3 overexpressing lentiviral vector (LV11-TUSC3) and control vector (LV11-NC) were constructed. SiHa cells overexpressing TUSC3 were selected as the LV11-TUSC3 group, SiHa cells infected with the control vector as the LV11-NC group, and those not infected with the lentivirus as the Con group. qRT-PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of TUSC3. Western blotting was used to detect the protein expression of TUSC3, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, GRP78 and ATF6. MTT test was used to detect the proliferation of SiHa cells. Scratch test was used to detect the migration ability of SiHa cells, and Transwell test was used to detect the invasion ability of SiHa cells.Results The expression level of TUSC3 mRNA was lower in cervical cancer tissue than in tumor-adjacent tissue (P<0.05). The expression level of TUSC3 had no relation with the age, tumor volume and depth of cervical infiltration of patients (P>0.05), but was related to the FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis of patients (P<0.05). Compared with Con group and LV11-NC group, the mRNA and protein expressions of TUSC3 in cells of LV11-TUSC3 group were increased, the expression of E-cadherin was up-regulated, the expression of N-cadherin was down-regulated, the cell proliferation, migration and invasion were reduced, and the level of endoplasmic reticulum stress was decreased (P<0.05).Conclusion The expression of TUSC3 was down-regulated in cervical cancer tissues. Up-regulation of TUSC3 expression can inhibit the proliferation, migration, invasion and endoplasmic reticulum stress of human cervical cancer SiHa cells. TUSC3 may become a potential target for cervical cancer treatment.