Reduced Kiss-1 expression is associated with clinical aggressive feature of gastric cancer patients and promotes migration and invasion in gastric cancer cells

Gastric cancer (GC) causes high morbidity and mortality in patients largely due to its invasion and metastasis.Kiss-1has been shown to be a metastasis suppressor in various malignancies. However, its clinical significance and biological functions in GC have not been thoroughly investigated. The present study investigated the association betweenKiss-1expression and its methylation status and clinicopathological features in GC.Kiss-1expression was reduced in GC and its low expression was associated with poor histological grade, lymph node metastasis and TNM III+IV stage.Kiss-1overexpression in AGS GC cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasionin vitro.Kiss-1knockdown promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HGC-27 cells. In summary, the data demonstrated that a low expression ofKiss-1played a suppressive role for the proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells. Its expression and methylation levels were associated with the clinical progression of GC. Thus,Kiss-1is a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker as well as a new target for the treatment of GC.