Fig. 1.

Gastrokine 1 (GKN1) inhibits gastrin-induced cell growth. a In the MTT assay, AGS and MKN1 cells treated with gastrin (100 nM) exhibited a significant increase in cell viability in a time-dependent manner, whereas no effect of gastrin on cell viability was found in HFE-145, AGS^GKN1, and MKN1^GKN1 cells, which stably expressed the GKN1 protein (P < 0.05). In HFE-145 cells, GKN1 silencing by transfection with shGKN1 led to gastrin-induced time-dependent increase in cell viability (P < 0.05). b In the BrdU incorporation assay, gastrin treatment resulted in a time-dependent augmentation of cell proliferation in AGS^mock and MKN1^mock cells, but not in HFE-145 and stable AGS^GKN1 and MKN1^GKN1 cells (P < 0.05). When GKN1 was silenced by specific shGKN1 in HFE-145 cells, gastrin treatment facilitated cell proliferation in a time-dependent manner (P < 0.05). Data are expressed as mean values ± SD from at least three independent experiments. Unpaired Student's t test was used to analyze statistical difference in cell viability and proliferation between experimental groups. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant