RNA interference-mediated silencing of G protein-coupled receptor 137 inhibits human gastric cancer cell growth

G protein-coupled receptor 137 (GPR137) is an integral membrane protein, which belongs to the GPR137 family of cell surface mediators of signal transduction. GPF137 was recently identified; however, its role in human disease onset has remained to be elucidated. GPR137 is highly expressed in multiple human gastric cancer cell lines. A GPR137 short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-expressing vector was transfected into AGS and MGC80-3 gastric cancer cells, and the subsequent depletion of GPR137 resulted in a significant reduction in cell proliferation and colony formation, as determined by MTT and colony formation assays. In addition, cell cycle analysis indicated that GPR137 knockdown arrested MGC80-3 cells in G(2)/M phase. To the best of our knowledge, the present study was the first to investigate the role of GPR137 in gastric tumorigenesis and revealed that knockdown of GPR137 by lentivirus-mediated shRNA transfection inhibited the growth of gastric cancer cells in vitro. These results indicated that GPR137 may present a novel target for the development of pharmacological therapeutics for human gastric cancer.