Open Access

ARTICLE

The effects of legumain in THP1 leukemia cells

DONGYUE ZHANG, LINA WANG, HAO WANG, XIAOQIAN LV, QIAN REN, GUOGUANG ZHENG^*

State Key Laboratory of Experimental Hematology, National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases, Institute of Hematology & Blood Disease Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, 300020, China

* Address correspondence to: Guoguang Zheng, zhengggtjchn@ aliyun.com

BIOCELL 2021, 45(1), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.010334

Received 27 February 2020; Accepted 11 May 2020; Issue published 26 January 2021

Abstract

Legumain is a C13 family cysteine protease. It plays diverse roles under both physiological and pathological conditions. The high-level expression of legumain is detected in solid tumors. Legumain promotes the proliferation and migration of tumor cells. However, the effect of legumain in blood diseases has not been established. In this report, we studied the effect of legumain on leukemia cells by overexpressing it in THP1 cells. The results demonstrated that legumain promoted cell proliferation, whereas it had little effect on cell apoptosis. Furthermore, legumain promoted the migration of THP1 cells. It was worth noting that legumain decreased the stemness of THP1 cells. Further evidence showed that legumain decreased the expression of Oct4, Sox2, Myc in THP1 cells. Our study reveals the multifaced effects of legumain in leukemia cells and broadens the knowledge of legumain in malignancies.

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