Filamin C, a dysregulated protein in cancer revealed by label-free quantitative proteomic analyses of human gastric cancer cells

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth and fifth most common cancer in men and women, respectively. We identified 2,750 proteins at false discovery rates of 1.3% (protein) and 0.03% (spectrum) by comparing the proteomic profiles of three GC and a normal gastric cell lines. Nine proteins were significantly dysregulated in all three GC cell lines, including filamin C, a muscle-specific filamin and a large actin-cross-linking protein. Downregulation of filamin C in GC cell lines and tissues were verified using quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. Data-mining using public microarray datasets shown that filamin C was significantly reduced in many human primary and metastasis cancers. Transient expression or silencing of filamin C affected the proliferation and colony formation of cancer cells. Silencing of endogenous filamin C enhanced cancer cell migration and invasion, whereas ectopic expression of filamin C had opposing effects. Silencing of filamin C increased the expression of matrix metallopeptidase 2 and improved the metastasis of prostate cancer in a zebrafish model. High filamin C associated with better prognosis of prostate cancer, leukemia and breast cancer patients. These findings establish a functional role of filamin C in human cancers and these data will be valuable for further study of its mechanisms.