Fut7 Promotes Adhesion and Invasion of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cells through the Integrin/Fak/Akt Pathway

PURPOSE: To investigate the role and mechanism of N-fucosyltransferase VII (FUT7) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). METHODS: Bone marrow tissues were collected from patients with ALL and children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (control) hospitalized in our hospital during the same period. Then, the FUT7 expression in bone marrow tissues was detected by qRT-PCR and western blotting. Human ALL cell strain Jurkat was cultured, and after knockdown or overexpression of FUT7, cell proliferation, apoptosis, adhesion and invasion were examined by MTT assay, flow cytometry, fibronectin adhesion assay and transwell, respectively; the protein expression level of integrin α5, integrin β1, p-FAK, and p-AKT was tested by western blotting. RESULTS: The FUT7 expression was up-regulated in bone marrow cells of ALL patients. After knockdown of FUT7, the proliferation, adhesion and migration ability of ALL cells were significantly reduced, and apoptosis was increased, while the overexpression of FUT7 obtained the opposite results. Moreover, the overexpression of FUT7 also promoted the protein expression of integrin α5, integrin β1, p-FAK, p-AKT. CONCLUSION: FUT7 can promote the adhesion and invasion of ALL cells by activating the integrin/FAK/AKT pathway.