SLC26A9 deficiency causes gastric intraepithelial neoplasia in mice and aggressive gastric cancer in humans

BACKGROUND: Solute carrier family 26 member (SLC26A9) is a Cl(−) uniporter with very high expression levels in the gastric mucosa. Here, we describe morphological and molecular alterations in gastric mucosa of slc26a9(−/−) mice and in selective parietal cell-deleted slc26a9(fl/fl)/Atp4b-Cre mice and correlate SLC26A9 expression levels with morphological and clinical parameters in a cohort of gastric cancer (GC) patients. METHODS: The expression patterns of genes related to transport and enzymatic function, proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation, barrier integrity, metaplasia and neoplasia development were studied by immunohistochemistry (IHC), quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization and RNA microarray analysis. SLC26A9 expression and cellular/clinical phenotypes were studied in primary human GC tissues and GC cell lines. RESULTS: We found that both complete and parietal cell-selective Slc26a9 deletion in mice caused spontaneous development of gastric premalignant and malignant lesions. Dysregulated differentiation of gastric stem cells in an inflammatory environment, activated Wnt signaling, cellular hyperproliferation, apoptosis inhibition and metaplasia were observed. Analysis of human gastric precancerous and cancerous tissues revealed that SLC26A9 expression progressively decreased from atrophic gastritis to GC, and that downregulation of SLC26A9 was correlated with patient survival. Exogenous expression of SLC26A9 in GC cells induced upregulation of the Cl(−)/HCO(3)(−) exchanger AE2, G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and suppressed their proliferation, migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicate that SLC26A9 deletion in parietal cells is sufficient to trigger gastric metaplasia and the development of neoplastic lesions. In addition, we found that SLC26A9 expression decreases during human gastric carcinogenesis, and that exogenous SLC26A9 expression in GC cells reduces their malignant behavior. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13402-022-00672-x.