Sal-like protein 4 (SALL4) has been proved to play a pivotal role in the development and progression of various cancers. Previous studies showed that SALL4 was highly expressed in human choriocarcinoma tissues. However, the role of SALL4 in the biological behavior of human choriocarcinoma cells remains largely unknown. In this study, we first elucidated that SALL4 was highly expressed in human choriocarcinoma cell line JEG-3 and JAR. Sal-like protein 4 knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA) decreased c-Myc expression, whereas SALL4 overexpression by transfection of human pLenti-SALL4 construct promoted c-Myc expression. Further data showed that SALL4 overexpression improved cell proliferation of JEG-3 cells, which can be abrogated by c-Myc siRNA. Moreover, our data showed that SALL4 interact with β-catenin and SALL4 overexpression promoted the localization of β-catenin in the nucleus and β-catenin siRNA abrogated SALL4-induced c-Myc expression in JEG-3 cells. These data indicate that aberrantly expressed SALL4 in human choriocarcinoma cells may promote cell proliferation via β-catenin/c-Myc pathway, indicating that SALL4 may be potential treatment targets of human choriocarcinoma.
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