Potential Molecular Mechanisms of AURKB in the Oncogenesis and Progression of Osteosarcoma Cells: A Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics Analysis

Our previous study indicated that knockdown of Aurora-B inhibit the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells. But the function and molecular mechanisms of Aurora-B in osteosarcoma cells growth and metastasis remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms of Aurora-B in the progression of osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma cells (U2-OS and 143B) were treated with specific Lentivirus-Vectors (up or downregulation Aurora-B). The ability of cells proliferation, migration, and invasion was measured using Cell-Counting Kit-8, wound healing and transwell invasion assays. Furthermore, based on label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of potential molecular mechanisms of Aurora-B in human 143B cells. A total of 25 downregulated and 76 upregulated differentially expressed proteins were screened in terms of the change in their expression abundance. We performed functional annotation and functional enrichment analyses. Gene ontology enrichment, KEGG analysis, and protein–protein interaction networks were constructed and analyzed. We found that the PTK2 may play an important role in the progression of osteosarcoma cells. Finally, Western blot revealed that expression of PTK2, AKT, PI3K, and nuclear factor-kappaB increased after over expression of Aurora-B. Overall, these data highlight that Aurora-B may promote the malignant phenotype of osteosarcoma cells by activating the PTK2/PI3K/AKt/nuclear factor-KappaB pathway.