The invasion promoter Slug is a critical cell cycle regulator

Background: The well-characterized function of the transcriptional repressor, Slug, is to promote EMT and tumor invasion/metastasis by down-regulating E-cadherin expression. In this study, we investigated the significance of Slug during the S phase. Method: Slug mRNA expression was isolated from thymidine-arrested CL1-5/AS2neo (control) and CL1-5/AS2neo-Slug-WT stable cells. The Agilent oligonucleotide microarray analysis was performed to identify Slug downstream genes. Results: Overexpression of Slug inhibited lung [3H]-thymidine incorporation and delayed S phase progression. By using Agilent microarray we have identified panel of genes altered by Slug overexpression. Slug can down-regulate target genes about cell cycle networks for DNA replication, DNA replication checkpoint and genomic stability, such as TOP1, ORC4, RFC3, and Rad17. Conclusions: the multifaceted role of Slug in cancer progression by controlling the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and genome stability. Two-condition experiment, Vector vs. Slug overexpression cells. The cDNAs encoding full-length human Slug were amplified and subcloned into lentiviral pLKO_AS2.neo which generated full-length Slug. Vector control or Slug lentivirus were transduced into CL1-5 cells and Gentamycin was used to select stable cells.