SLC34A2 with highest expressions in lung, small intestine and kidney encoded a type 2b sodium-dependent phosphate transporter (NaPi-IIb). In lung, SLC34A2 only expressed in the apical membrane of type II alveolar epithelium cells (ATII cells) and played a pivotal role during the fetal lung development and embryonic development. ATII cells acting as multifunctional stem cells might transform into NSCLC after undergoing exogenous or endogenous factors. Increasing evidences showed that the genes performing critical roles during embryogenesis were also expressed during the development of cancer. In addition, recent research found the expression of SLC34A2 had a significant difference between the surgical samples of NSCLC and normal tissues, and SLC34A2 was down-regulated in lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 and up-regulation expression of SLC34A2 could significantly inhibit cell viability and invasion of A549 in vitro. These results suggested SLC34A2 might play an important role in the development of NSCLC. However, the role of SLC34A2 in tumorigenesis and progression of NSCLC remains unknown.

Our study found that SLC34A2 was also significantly down-regulated in 14/15 of examined NSCLC tissues. Moreover, we found that expressions of SLC34A2 were reduced in six NSCLC cell lines for the first time. Our result also revealed a dramatic inhibitory effects of SLC34A2 on cell growth, migration and invasion of several NSCLC cell lines. SLC34A2 also strongly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis ability in A549 subcutaneous tumor model and lung metastasis model, respectively. Further studies found that the suppressive effects of SLC34A2 on tumorigenesis and progression might be associated with the down-regulation of related protein in PI3K/Akt and Ras/Raf/MEK signal pathway.

For the first time, our data indicated that SLC34A2 could exert significantly suppressive effects on tumorigenesis and progression of NSCLC. SLC34A2 might provide new insights for further understanding the early pathogenesis of human NSCLC.