Effect of anlotinib on the proliferation and invasion of human lung squamous cell carcinoma NCI-H226 cells and its mechanism

Objective To investigate the effect of anlotinib on the proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-me-senchymal transition (EMT) of human lung squamous cell carcinoma NCI-H226 cells. Methods Human lung squamous cell carcinoma NCI-H226 cells were divided into control group (group A), anlotinib treatment groups at different concentrations (10, 20, and 40 μmol/L) (groups B-D), anlotinib (20 μmol/L)+PI3K/AKT signaling pathway inhibitor LY294002 (30 μmol/L) treatment group (group E), and anlotinib (20 μmol/L)+PI3K/AKT signaling pathway activator SC79 (10 μmol/L) treatment group (group F). CCK-8 assay was used to measure cell viability; scratch assay was used to measure the migration rate of cells; Transwell assay was used to measure the invasion ability of cells; RT-qPCR was used to measure the relative mRNA expression levels of the EMT-related genes E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin, and fibelectin (FN) in cells, and Western blotting was used to measure the relative protein expression levels of PI3K, AKT, p-PI3K, p-AKT, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin, and FN in cells. Results The results of the experiment showed that compared with group A, groups B-D had significant reductions in cell viability, cell migration rate, the number of invasive cells, and the relative protein expression levels of p-PI3K and p-AKT (F=49.315-145.576,tLSD=2.459-251.731,P