The DOCK7 Knockout HGC-27 Polyclonal Cells are a CRISPR/Cas9-edited polyclonal knockout cell population derived from the HGC-27 gastric carcinoma epithelial cell line, with targeted disruption of the DOCK7 gene. The polyclonal format provides a heterogeneous pool of edited cells, enabling loss-of-function studies while avoiding clonal artifacts associated with single-cell-derived lines.
The parental HGC-27 cell line was established from a metastatic lymph node of an undifferentiated gastric carcinoma patient. As an epithelial model of metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma, HGC-27 cells recapitulate aggressive cancer features, including robust migration and invasion, and are widely used to study tumor progression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
DOCK7 encodes a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that activates Rac1 and Cdc42 by GDP/GTP exchange. It interacts with ELMO1 and ELMO2 to form an ELMO-DOCK complex, recruited to the membrane by upstream growth factor receptors and integrin signals via PI3K and PIP3. Activated Rac1 and Cdc42 stimulate PAK, the WAVE complex, and Arp2/3, driving actin polymerization, lamellipodia formation, and cell migration; LIMK and cofilin further remodel the actin cytoskeleton. DOCK7 also governs neurite outgrowth and axon guidance, and mutations cause early infantile epileptic encephalopathy.
In the HGC-27 gastric cancer context, DOCK7-dependent Rac1/Cdc42 signaling is expected to be critical for the migratory and invasive properties underlying metastasis. Disrupting DOCK7 allows dissection of its contribution to gastric adenocarcinoma cell motility and Rac1/Cdc42-dependent processes in vitro. This polyclonal knockout population serves as a physiologically relevant tool to study how DOCK7 loss impacts actin dynamics, lamellipodial protrusion, and chemotaxis in metastatic gastric epithelial cells, and to investigate crosstalk with other oncogenic pathways.
Applications include Rac1 and Cdc42 activation assays, wound healing, transwell migration/invasion assays, immunofluorescence for F-actin, and western blot for phospho-PAK. Co-immunoprecipitation can assess ELMO-DOCK complex integrity. The model is valuable for drug screening against metastasis and can be adapted for neurodevelopmental disorder research. For further details, please contact Ascent Research.
