Bisphenol A-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition is mediated by cyclooxygenase-2 up-regulation in human endometrial carcinoma cells

•Bisphenol A (BPA) enhanced growth rate and clonogenic ability of RL95-2 cells in dose responsive manner.•BPA induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mediated mechanism.•BPA increased cell migration and invasion ability through MAPK pathway-dependent up-regulation of COX-2 expression.

Many studies have highlighted the correlation between the increase of bisphenol A (BPA) level in the environment and the incidence of tumor in humans. In human carcinogenesis, the overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) are closely related with tumor development. In this study, human endometrial carcinoma cells line (RL95-2) was used to investigate whether BPA can induce EMT and COX-2 expression. The results show that BPA increased growth rate and colony-forming efficiency in a dose-dependent manner, induced EMT and COX-2 gene expression and promoted the migration and invasion ability of RL95-2 cells. Furthermore, our study showed that the expression of COX-2 was essential for BPA-induced cell migration and invasion. The results of this study provide new insights into the mechanism of endometrial cancer cell growth and invasion and potential therapeutic strategy.