Abstract: Objective: To observe the expression levels of integrin-linked kinase (ILK) in cancer tissue of the patients with endometrial carcinoma and explore its effects on the migration and invasion abilities of endometrial carcinoma cells through in vitro cell experiment, and to elucidate the mechanism. Methods: Immunohistochemical SP method was used to detect the positive expression rates of ILK in cancer tissue and adjacent tissue in 29 patients with endometrial carcinoma. ILK siRNA and siRNA control were respectively transfected into the endometrial carcinoma HEC-1B cells as interference group and empty vector group, while the untreated cells were used as control group. Western blotting method was used to detect the expression levels of ILK, protein kinase B(Akt),phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt), glycogen synthase kinase-3β(GSK-3β) and phosphorylated GSK-3β(p-GSK-3β) in the HEC-1B cells. Cell scratch test was used to detect the cell migration distance. Transwell chamber method was used to detect the number of invasion cells. Results: The positive expression rates of ILK in 29 cases of endometrial carcinoma and adjacent tissues were 79.3% and 10.3%,respectively;the expression level of ILK in endometrial carcinoma tissue was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissue (χ²=27.89, P<0.05). Compared with control group and empty vector group, the expression levels of ILK, p-Akt, and p-GSK-3β proteins in the HEC-1B cells in interference group were significantly reduced (P<0.05), and there were no statistically significant differences between the expression levels of Akt and GSK-3β proteins (P>0.05). The cell scratch test results showed that compared with control group and empty vector group, the migration distance of the HEC-1B cells in interference group was significantly shortened(P<0.05),and the number of invasion cells was significantly reduced (P<0.05). Conclusion: ILK is highly expressed in the endometrial carcinoma tissue, interfering the expression of ILK can reduce the migration and invasion abilities of endometrial carcinoma cells, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of phosphorylations of Akt and GSK-3β proteins.

Key words: integrin-linked kinase, endometrial carcinoma, cell migration, cell invasion