The aim of this study was to clarify the
methionine adenosyltransferase II alpha (MAT2A) expression pattern and to explore its potential role in
gastric cancer. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to examine MAT2A
mRNA expression in 20 cases of
gastric cancer tissues and corresponding non-
tumor tissue samples. Immunohistochemistry was conducted to detect MAT2A
protein expression in 91
gastric cancer tissues. Moreover, the stable cell lines transfected with the
small hairpin RNA (
shRNA) targeting MAT2A
mRNA plasmids were established and the
biological characteristics of these cells were examined. The expression levels of MAT2A
mRNA in
gastric cancer tissues were significantly higher than those in corresponding non-
tumor tissues. High-level MAT2A expression was observed in 40.7% (37 of 91 cases), and correlated with
tumor classification (P=0.012),
lymph node metastasis (P=0.001) and poor
tumor differentiation (P=0.011) of
gastric cancer patients. Additionally, the MAT2A expression level was significantly decreased in the transfected cells with MAT2A specific
shRNA expression plasmid pGCsi-H1-792. The stable transfected
cancer cells exhibited a decrease in growth ability and an increase in the incidence of spontaneous apoptosis and the percentage of the G1 phase. Our data suggest that MAT2A plays an important role in
gastric cancer development and progression.