PHAP1 promotes glioma cell proliferation by regulating the Akt/p27/stathmin pathway

PHAP1 (Putative HLA‐DR‐associated protein 1), also termed acidic leucine‐rich nuclear phosphoprotein 32A (ANP32A), Phosphoprotein 32 (pp32) or protein phosphatase 2A inhibitor (I1PP2A), is a multifunctional protein aberrantly expressed in multiple types of human cancers. However, its expression pattern and clinical relevance in human glioma remain unknown. In this study, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry analysis demonstrated PHAP1 protein was highly expressed in glioma patients, especially in those with high‐grade disease. Publicly available data also revealed high levels of PHAP1 were associated with poor prognosis in glioma patients. The functional studies showed that knock‐down of PHAP1 suppressed the proliferation of glioma cells, while overexpression of PHAP1 facilitated it. The iTRAQ proteomic analysis suggested that stathmin might be a potential downstream target of PHAP1. Consistently, PHAP1 knock‐down significantly decreased the expression of stathmin, while overexpression of PHAP1 increased it. Also, the upstream negative regulator, p27, expression levels increased upon PHAP1 knock‐down and decreased when PHAP1 was overexpressed. As a result, the phosphorylated Akt (S473), an upstream regulator of p27, expression levels decreased upon silencing of PHAP1, but elevated after PHAP1 overexpression. Importantly, we demonstrate the p27 down‐regulation, stathmin up‐regulation and cell proliferation acceleration induced by PHAP1 overexpression were dependent on Akt activation. In conclusion, the above results suggest that PHAP1 expression is elevated in glioma patients, which may accelerate the proliferation of glioma cells by regulating the Akt/p27/stathmin pathway.