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Objective: Citron Rho-interacting serine/threonine kinase (CIT) was identified recently as an oncogene involved in the progression of various malignant tumors, but its role in prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the biological functions of CIT in PCa., Methods: We analyzed the expression of CIT in PCa tissues and its clinical correlations based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) dataset. We then examined the effects of RNA interference-mediated CIT silencing on the proliferation, migration and invasion of PC-3 cells using cell counting kit-8, wound healing assay and Transwell assay. We also investigated the effect of CIT silencing on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Hippo-Yap signaling pathway in the cells using Western blotting., Results: CIT expression was significantly elevated in PCa tissues from TCGA cohort ( P < 0.05). MSKCC dataset analysis showed that an elevated expression of CIT was significantly correlated with N stage ( P =0.001), distant metastasis ( P < 0.001), Gleason score ( P =0.010) and PSA ( P =0.004). In cultured PC-3 cells, knockdown of CIT significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion, reversed the EMT phenotype and decreased the expression and activity of YAP., Conclusions: CIT might function as an oncogene in PCa by modulating the Hippo-YAP signaling pathway and serve as a candidate therapeutic target for PCa.

Nan-fiber scaffolds are suitable tools for tissue engineering. Electro spinning materials together with cells presents not adequate to obtain a high cellular zing tissue constructs as the shear force, tensile force, and other physical effects excited in the electro spinning process, which are harmful to cellular differentiation, development and function. However, this limitation has been overcome by a micro integration system of simultaneously bio-electro spraying human adipose stem cells (ASCs) and electro spinning Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Then it was compared to the single electro spinning nan-fiber scaffolds in relation to cell viability, which showed that the scaffolds by micro integration approach has a larger number of surviving cells and more suitable for cell growth and proliferation. In addition, the relationship between different parameters of biological electrospray (voltage, flow rate and distance of the needle from the collecting board) and droplet size of cell suspension was elucidated and the droplets with a near-mono distribution (<50um) could be generated to deposit a single living cell within a droplet. The association of bio-electro spraying with electro spinning (a scaffold preparation technique) has been demonstrated to be a promising and suitable tissue engineering approach in producing nan-fiber based three-dimensional (3-D) cell seeded scaffolds.