REC8 suppresses tumor angiogenesis by inhibition of NF-κB-mediated vascular endothelial growth factor expression in gastric cancer cells

BACKGROUND: Tumor angiogenesis is an essential event for tumor growth and metastasis. It has been showed that REC8, a component of the meiotic cohesion complex, played a vital role in Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in gastric cancer. However, the role of REC8 in gastric cancer angiogenesis remains to be identified. RESULTS: Inhibition of REC8 expression in gastric cancer cells contributed to tumor angiogenesis in the gastric cancer microenvironment. The clinical analysis demonstrated that the loss of REC8 in gastric cancer with enrichment of MVD. Depletion of REC8 expression in gastric cancer cells significantly increased tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), which is attributed to enhancement of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion caused by REC8 slicing. While addition of neutralizing antibody targeted VEGF into supernatant drastically reversed the effect of REC8 loss in gastric cancer cells on tube formation. Mechanistic analyses indicated that ablation of REC8 promotes nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 activity and its downstream gene VEGF expression, leading to tube formation. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated a novel REC8 function that suppressed tumor angiogenesis and progression by attenuation of VEGF in gastric cancer microenvironment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40659-020-00307-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.