Upregulation of HOXB7 promotes proliferation and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone cancer in children and adolescents. Unfortunately, treatment failures are common due to metastasis and chemore-sistance, however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Accumulating evidence indicated that the homeobox B7 (HOXB7) gene was associated with the development of cancer. However, the expression and function of HOXB7 in osteosarcoma is still unknown. In the current study, the expression of HOXB7 was upregulated in osteosarcoma tissues and cells compared with paired adjacent non‑tumor bone tissues and osteoblastic cells using reverse transcription‑quantitative polymer chain reaction and western blotting. HOXB7 knockdown dramatically suppressed cell viability, proliferation, migration and epithelial‑mesenchymal transition. Moreover, downregulation of HOXB7 expression significantly inhibited matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)2 and MMP7 protein levels in the MG63 cell line. Therefore, the present results identified that HOXB7 could play a critical role in carcinogenesis, and may serve as a therapeutic target for the treatment of osteosarcoma.