APMAP Promotes Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Metastasis of Cervical Cancer Cells by Activating the Wnt/β-catenin Pathway

Cervical cancer is a malignant tumor of the female reproductive system. At present, its occurrence, development and transfer mechanism are not entirely clear. APMAP (Adipocyte Plasma Membrane Associated Protein) is a glycosyl type II transmembrane protein that is mainly distributed in the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum of adipocytes. APMAP has been reported to be involved in lipid transport and can induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition of prostate cancer and the liver metastasis of colorectal cancer. However, the role of APMAP in cervical cancer is still unknown. We analyzed the expression and prognosis of APMAP using data in both the GEO and the TCGA databases. We analyzed the function of APMAP using Transwell, wound healing assay and flow cytometry, and assessed the main mechanisms of APMAP by RT-PCR and Western blotting. We found that APMAP was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues, and patients with high expression had poor prognosis. The functional in vitro experiments demonstrated that APMAP knockdown significantly inhibited the migration ability of cervical cancer cells, but had little effect on cell apoptosis. Mechanically, APMAP promotes cervical cancer cell migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition by activating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Overall, APMAP is a potential prognostic marker as well as a therapeutic target of cervical cancer.