ATPase inhibitory factor 1 is a potential prognostic marker for the migration and invasion of glioma

Adenosine triphosphatase inhibitory factor 1 (IF1) has previously been considered to be a driving oncogene in human cancers. Several studies have revealed that IF1 overexpression is present in a variety of tumor types and promotes tumor growth and metastasis. The present study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of IF1 in glioma and the role of IF1 in cell migration and invasion. The mRNA and protein expression of IF1 in glioma tissues was found to be significantly increased compared with the expression in normal brain tissues (P<0.05). The presence of IF1 expression was significantly associated with an advanced clinical stage in glioma (P<0.05). Furthermore, the presence of IF1 expression was found to be associated with a reduced overall survival rate of glioma patients (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that IF1 was an independent factor for predicting the overall survival rate of patients with glioma (P<0.05). IF1 knockdown also significantly reduced the number of migratory and invasive U251 and U87 cells (P<0.05). In addition, IF1 knockdown inhibited the expression of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and Snai1, and led to increased E-cadherin expression and reduced vimentin expression. In conclusion, the presence of IF1 expression is associated with poor clinicopathological features in glioma. IF1 expression is an independent prognostic marker for predicting the overall survival rate of patients with glioma. Mechanistically, IF1 may promote glioma cell migration and invasion through the NF-κB/Snai1 axis.