Protease Serine S1 Family Member 8 (PRSS8) Inhibits Tumor Growth In Vitro and In Vivo in Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Protease serine S1 family member 8 (PRSS8), a membrane-anchored serine protease, has been reported to be involved in the development of several human cancers. However, the role of PRSS8 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pathogenesis remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate PRSS8 expression, biological function, and its related molecular mechanism in NSCLC. Our results showed that PRSS8 was expressed in a low amount in NSCLC cell lines. Ectopic expression of PRSS8 inhibited tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, ectopic expression of PRSS8 inhibited the migration and invasion of NSCLC cells. It also suppressed the EMT process in A549 cells. Mechanistically, we found that the ectopic expression of PRSS8 downregulated the protein expression levels of p-JAK1, p-JAK2, and p-STAT3 in A549 cells. Taken together, our study showed that PRSS8 plays an important role in the growth and metastasis of NSCLC. Thus, PRSS8 may be a novel therapeutic target for NSCLC.