Ang-2 promoting proliferation of SW1116 colon cancer cells through PI3K/Akt pathways

To investigate the role of the angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) signal transduction pathway in colon cancer, colon cancer cells (SW1116) were divided into four groups, control group, serum-free group, Ang-2 group (treated with 1.2 mg/L Ang-2) and PI3K/Akt inhibitor group (treated with LY294002 and Ang-2). Then Tie-2, PI3K and Akt were detected via Western blotting after 24 h. Compared to the serum-free group, the expression of Tie-2 and Akt in the Ang-2 group was increased (p=0.294, p>;0.05; p=0.00, p<;0.01), while the expression of PI3K was decreased significantly in the Ang-2 group (p=0.00, p<;0.01). Compared to the Ang-2 group, the expression of all three of the proteins was decreased significantly in the inhibitor LY294002 group (p = 0.00, p<;0.01; p=0.00, p<;0.01; p=0.00, p<;0.01). Ang-2 plays an important role in the proliferation of colon cancer cells, which can be inhibited by LY294002, and the PI3K/Akt pathway may take part in the inhibition mechanism.