Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of nuclear pore membrane protein 121(POM121)in head and neck mucosal melanoma(HNMM)and its effect on the migration and invasion of HNMM cells.Methods The cancer tissues from 63 patients with HNMM and 20 adjacent normal oral epithelial tissues who were treated in the Harbin Cancer Hos-pital of Harbin Medical University from March 1,2011 to March 30,2015 were collected,and the expression of POM121 was detected by immunohistochemistry.The relationship between the expression of POM121 and the clinicopathological features of HNMM patients and its effect on the prognosis of patients were analyzed.Western blot was used to detect the expression of POM121 in HNMM cells(MM9H-1 cells)and human oral epithelial cells(human oral keratinocytes,HOK cells).After knocking down POM121 with small in-terfering RNA(siRNA),the effects on the migration and invasion of HNMM cells were detected by Scratch assay and Transwell assay.Results Immunohistochemistry showed that expression of POM121 was significantly higher in HNMM tissues than that in adjacent tissues(P<0.001).The expression of POM121 was associated with tumor size and stage(P<0.05).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the disease-free survival(DFS)and overall survival(OS)of patients with low expression of POM121 were significantly longer than those with high expression of POM121.Cox regression analysis showed that POM121 expression,AJCC stage and lymph node metasta-sis were influencing factors for OS and DFS of HNMM patients(P<0.05).Western blot results showed that the expression of POM121 protein in MM9H-1 cells was significantly higher than that in HOK cells(P<0.05).After knocking down POM121,the cell migration rate and cell invasion ability were significantly reduced(P<0.001).Conclusion POM121 is highly expressed in HNMM tissues and cells,and down-regulation of POM121 significantly inhibits the migration and invasion of HNMM cells.

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of nuclear pore membrane protein 121(POM121)in head and neck mucosal melanoma(HNMM)and its effect on the migration and invasion of HNMM cells.Methods The cancer tissues from 63 patients with HNMM and 20 adjacent normal oral epithelial tissues who were treated in the Harbin Cancer Hos-pital of Harbin Medical University from March 1,2011 to March 30,2015 were collected,and the expression of POM121 was detected by immunohistochemistry.The relationship between the expression of POM121 and the clinicopathological features of HNMM patients and its effect on the prognosis of patients were analyzed.Western blot was used to detect the expression of POM121 in HNMM cells(MM9H-1 cells)and human oral epithelial cells(human oral keratinocytes,HOK cells).After knocking down POM121 with small in-terfering RNA(siRNA),the effects on the migration and invasion of HNMM cells were detected by Scratch assay and Transwell assay.Results Immunohistochemistry showed that expression of POM121 was significantly higher in HNMM tissues than that in adjacent tissues(P<0.001).The expression of POM121 was associated with tumor size and stage(P<0.05).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the disease-free survival(DFS)and overall survival(OS)of patients with low expression of POM121 were significantly longer than those with high expression of POM121.Cox regression analysis showed that POM121 expression,AJCC stage and lymph node metasta-sis were influencing factors for OS and DFS of HNMM patients(P<0.05).Western blot results showed that the expression of POM121 protein in MM9H-1 cells was significantly higher than that in HOK cells(P<0.05).After knocking down POM121,the cell migration rate and cell invasion ability were significantly reduced(P<0.001).Conclusion POM121 is highly expressed in HNMM tissues and cells,and down-regulation of POM121 significantly inhibits the migration and invasion of HNMM cells.