Background:
Bladder cancer is the fourth and tenth most common
malignancy in men and women worldwide, respectively. One of the main reasons for the unsatisfactory therapeutic control of
bladder cancer is that the molecular biological mechanism of
bladder cancer is complex. Gasdermin B (GSDMB) is one member of the gasdermin family and participates in the regulation of cell pyroptosis. The role of GSDMB in
bladder cancer has not been studied to date. Methods: TCGA database was used to exam the clinical relevance of GSDMB. Functional assays such as MTT assay, Celigo fluorescent cell-counting assay,
Annexin V-APC assay and xenografts were used to evaluate the biological role of GSDMB in
bladder cancer. Mass spectrometry and immunoprecipitation were used to detect the
protein interaction between GSDMB and STAT3, or GSDMB and USP24. Western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to study the relationship between USP24, GSDMB and STAT3. Results: In this study, bioinformatics analysis indicated that the
mRNA expression level of GSDMB in
bladder cancer tissues was higher than that in adjacent normal tissues. Then, we showed that GSDMB promoted
bladder cancer progression. Furthermore, we demonstrated that GSDMB interacted with STAT3 to increase the phosphorylation of STAT3 and modulate the
glucose metabolism and promote
tumor growth in
bladder cancer cells. Besides, we also showed that USP24 stabilized GSDMB to activate STAT3 signaling, which was blocked by the USP24 inhibitor. Conclusions: We suggested that aberrantly up-regulated GSDMB was responsible for enhancing the growth and invasion ability of
bladder cancer cells. Then, we showed that GSDMB could bind to STAT3 and activate STAT3 signaling in
bladder cancer. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that USP24 interacted with GSDMB and prevented GSDMB from degradation in
bladder cancer cells. Therefore, the USP24/GSDMB/STAT3 axis may be a new targetable signaling pathway for
bladder cancer treatment.