CCL20/CCR6 promotes cell proliferation and metastasis in laryngeal cancer by activating p38 pathway.

Chemokine and its receptors play important roles in laryngeal cancer development and progression. CCR6 is the receptor of CCL20 chemokine, but its function in laryngeal cancer is not known. The aim of this study is to explore the roles of CCR6 and its regulation mechanism in laryngeal cancer. We found CCR6 expression was higher in laryngeal cancer tissues compared with their normal controls, so did in laryngeal cancer cells. Cellular function indicated that down-regulation of CCR6 in laryngeal cancer cells could suppress cell proliferation and metastasis. Further research showed that CCR6 could activate p38, which was related with the changes of microRNA (miRNA) profile in laryngeal cancer cells. We also found that CCR6 was positively associated with miR-20a-5p, miR-489 and negatively related to miR-29-3p, miR-632 and miR-1276 in laryngeal cancer tissues.