Abstract

Uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) is one of the most common types of cancer in women, and the incidence is rapidly increasing. Studies have shown that various signaling pathways serve crucial roles in the tumorigenesis of UCEC, amongst which the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is of great interest due to its crucial role in cell proliferation and the huge potential as a therapeutic target. In the present study, it was shown that FBXO17, which is a member of the F-box family, is abnormally downregulated in UCEC tissues compared with non-tumor endometrial tissues, and this was significantly associated with the clinical histological grade, as well as the abnormal proliferation of the UCEC cell line, Ishikawa, both in vitro and in vivo . Besides, the results suggested that FBXO17 may inhibit the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and influence the expression of adhesion molecules, such as E-cadherin and N-cadherin in Ishikawa cells. In conclusion, these findings indicate that FBXO17 is a novel inhibitor of endometrial tumor development and it likely exerts effects via regulation of the Wnt signaling pathway.