The effect of RPLP1 on the proliferation and metastasis of neuroblastoma cells under the regulation of c-MYC

Background Neuroblastoma (NB) metastasis in high-risk patients is the most common cause of poor prognosis, but the mechanism of cancer metastasis is still unclear. RPLP1 is a member of a group of proteins called ribosomal proteins that are associated with tumor occurrence and metastasis. However, the expression and potential function of RPLP1 in NB are still unclear. Methods Bioinformatics methods were used to identify RPLP1 as a potential prognostic factor for NB. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of RPLP1 in NB tissues and cell lines to determine the correlation between RPLP1 expression and clinicopathological features. In vitro, we identified the role and mechanism of RPLP1 in NB cell line tumor metastasis. Results We detected high levels of RPLP1 expression in NB samples and cell lines. High expression levels are associated with an increased risk of recurrence and metastasis. In vitro experiments have shown that overexpression of RPLP1 promotes the metastatic ability of NB cells; in RPLP1 knockout cells, the opposite is true. In addition, the dual-luciferase reporter gene results indicated that RPLP1 is a potential downstream gene of MYC. MYC can promote the proliferation of NB cells by regulating the expression of RPLP1 and enhance cell metastasis through the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway. Conclusion In summary, our research revealed that RPLP1 is a potential biomarker and candidate therapeutic target for the poor prognosis of NB patients.