ADMA mediates gastric cancer cell migration and invasion via Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of ADMA in gastric cancer. METHODS: The specimens of 115 gastric cancer patients were analyzed by ELISA and survival analysis. Functional assays were used to assess the effects of ADMA on gastric cancer cells. Experiments were conducted to detect the signaling pathway induced by ADMA in GC. RESULTS: Gastric cancer patients with high ADMA levels had poor prognosis and low survival rate. Furthermore, high level of ADMA did not affect the proliferation while promoted the migration and invasion of gastric cancer cell. Moreover, ADMA enhanced the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Importantly, ADMA positively regulated β-catenin expression in GC and promoted GC migration and invasion via Wnt/β-catenin pathway. CONCLUSIONS: ADMA regulates gastric cancer cell migration and invasion via Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and which may be applied to clinical practice as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12094-020-02422-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.