Effects of the myeloid cell nuclear differentiation antigen on the proliferation, apoptosis and migration of osteosarcoma cells

Despite improvements over the past two decades, the outcome for patients with advanced osteosarcoma remains poor. Targeted therapies have emerged as promising treatment options for various malignancies. However, effective targeted cancer therapies require the identification of key molecules in the pathogenesis of cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of the myeloid cell nuclear differentiation antigen (MNDA), a member of the interferon-inducible p200 (IFI-200) family, as a therapeutic target for osteosarcoma by analyzing the baseline expression of MNDA in human osteosarcoma cells and determining the effect of MNDA overexpression on the proliferation and apoptosis profiles and migration/invasion ability in osteosarcoma cells. To this end, MNDA mRNA abundance in wild-type sarcoma osteogenic (Saos-2) cells was analyzed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, proliferation/apoptosis profiles and migration/invasion capacity in Saos-2 cells overexpressing a green fluorescence protein (GFP)-human MNDA fusion protein. Saos-2 cells found to be overexpressing GFP alone were assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, flow cytometric analysis and Matrigel Transwell migration assay. The results demonstrated that MNDA mRNA was significantly less abundant in wild-type Saos-2 cells compared with human monocyte-like U-937 cells and MNDA overexpression effectively inhibited proliferation, induced apoptosis and reduced migration/invasiveness in Saos-2 cells compared with GFP overexpression alone. Preliminary observations suggested that MNDA potentially serves as a novel therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.