Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the major cause of cancer-related lethality among human cancer patients globally, and the poor prognosis of this cancer is mainly explained by metastasis, so it is essential to find out the molecule mechanisms and a novel therapeutic for NSCLC. A disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin motif 5 (ADAMTS5) belongs to the protease family. It has been reported to participate in tumor migration and invasion. In this study, we showed that the expression of ADAMTS5 was higher in lung cancer tissues by Western blot. The immunohistochemistry analysis was performed in 140 NSCLC cases, and the result indicated that ADAMTS5 was significantly associated with clinical pathologic variables. The Kaplan-Meier curve showed that the high expression of ADAMTS5 was related to poor prognosis of lung cancer patients. Wound healing assays and transwell migration assays revealed that the high expression of ADAMTS5 promoted the migration and invasion of NSCLC. In a word, our findings suggest that ADAMTS5 can regulate the migration and invasion of NSCLC and it may be a useful target of therapy in NSCLC.
Keywords: ADAMTS5; Invasion; Migration; Non-small cell lung cancer.