Abstract: Background and purpose: Phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) gene is a kind of tumor suppressors, which has been reported to be underexpressed in endometrial carcinoma (EC) tissues by several reports. However, the biological effects and possible mechanisms of PTEN on EC have been known less. In this study, we tried to investigate the effects and possible mechanisms of PTEN on the invasion and migration of endometrial carcinoma cells and to provide a potential target for endometrial carcinoma therapy. Methods: The recombinant plasmid pIRES2-ZsGreen1-PTEN was rebuilt by gene recombination technology; The plasmid was transferred into HEC-1B cells and the cells transfected with pIRES2-ZsGreen1 plasmid were used as control; The expression of PTEN was observed by fluorescence microscope and Western blot assay; Cell migration and invasion was determined by the wound healing assay, transwell migration and invasion assays respectively; The Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of ATP-dependent tyrosine kinase (AKT), phosphorylated-AKT (p-AKT) and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2). Results: The agarose gel electrophoresis showed a stripe of 1.2 kb which was same to PTEN cDNA; The sequence analysis showed the PCR products owned the same sequence with the coding region of PTEN cDNA in GenBank, suggesting the recombinant plasmid was constructed successfully; The green light of cells observed by fluorescence microscope and the Western blot analysis showed the expression of PTEN was upregulated in the cells transfected with the recombinant plasmid, suggesting the plasmid expressed successfully in HEC-1B cells; The wound healing assay as well as transwell migration assay showed ectopic expression of PTEN suppressed cell migration; The invasive capacity of HEC-1B cells was significantly decreased upon transfection with PTEN plasmid compared to control and untreated groups; Moreover, compared with the control groups, the expression of p-AKT and MMP-2 was downregulated, while there was no significant alteration of the expression of AKT. Conclusion: PTEN could suppress cell migratory and invasive ability of endometrial carcinoma cells by suppressing the phosphorylation of AKT followed by the decrease of MMP-2.

Key words: Endometrial carcinoma, Tumor invasion, Phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10, AKT, MMP-2