KLK11 acts as a tumor-inhibitor in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma through the inactivation of Akt/Wnt/β-catenin signaling

Kallikrein-associated peptidase 11 (KLK11) has emerged as a key tumor-associated protein that is implicated in a wide spectrum of tumor types. However, the detailed involvement of KLK11 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) has not been well studied. The aims of our work were to evaluate whether KLK11 plays a role in LSCC. We found that both the mRNA and protein expression of KLK11 were significantly lower in LSCC tissues than in normal tissues. Low expression of KLK11 was also observed in LSCC cell lines, and the up-regulation of KLK11 caused a significant inhibitory effect on the proliferation, colony formation and invasion of LSCC cells. On the contrary, the knockdown of KLK11 markedly accelerated the proliferative and invasive abilities of LSCC cells. Molecular mechanism research revealed that KLK11 overexpression decreased the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) and down-regulated the expression of active β-catenin, leading to the inactivation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in LSCC cells. Furthermore, GSK-3β inhibition markedly abrogated the KLK11-mediated suppressive effect on Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Notably, the reactivation of Wnt/β-catenin partially reversed KLK11-mediated tumor-inhibition effect in LSCC. In addition, the xenograft tumor assay demonstrated that the up-regulation of KLK11 retarded tumor formation and the growth of LSCC cells in vivo. Taken together, the findings of our work demonstrate that KLK11 exerts a tumor-inhibition role in LSCC by down-regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Our work highlights a pivotal role of KLK11 in LSCC progression and suggests it as an attractive anticancer target for LSCC treatment.