scholarly journals Up-regulation of CXCL8 expression is associated with a poor prognosis and enhances tumor cell malignant behaviors in liver cancer

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Song Yang ◽  
Han Wang ◽  
Chundi Qin ◽  
Hongmei Sun ◽  
Yupeng Han

Abstract CXCL8, a member of CXC chemokines, was constitutively expressed in many types of human cancers, and its overexpression has been shown to play a critical role in promoting tumorigenesis. The purpose of the present study was to determine CXCL8 expression in a commercial human liver tissue microarray, and elucidate the effects and underlying mechanisms by which CXCL8 is involved in the malignant progression of human liver cancer. Our data showed that high level expression of CXCL8 in tissues with liver cancer was identified as compared with non-cancer tissues, and its up-regulation was closely associated with clinical stage and tumor infiltration. In vitro, exogenous CXCL8 at concentrations of 10, 20 or 40 ng/ml obviously stimulated the proliferation abilities of HepG2 cells. Coupled with this, 10, 20 or 40 ng/ml of exogenous CXCL8 also triggered a significant elevation in HepG2 cells migration. Additionally, overexpression of CXCL8 in HepG2 cells also resulted in increased cell proliferation and migration capacities. Finally, Western blotting analysis showed that overexpression of CXCL8 increased the expression of ERK, p-ERK and survivin, decreased the expression of caspase-3 and BAX at protein level.

Author(s):  
Rajinder Gupta ◽  
Yannick Schrooders ◽  
Duncan Hauser ◽  
Marcel van Herwijnen ◽  
Wiebke Albrecht ◽  
...  

Abstract The liver plays an important role in xenobiotic metabolism and represents a primary target for toxic substances. Many different in vitro cell models have been developed in the past decades. In this study, we used RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) to analyze the following human in vitro liver cell models in comparison to human liver tissue: cancer-derived cell lines (HepG2, HepaRG 3D), induced pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells (iPSC-HLCs), cancerous human liver-derived assays (hPCLiS, human precision cut liver slices), non-cancerous human liver-derived assays (PHH, primary human hepatocytes) and 3D liver microtissues. First, using CellNet, we analyzed whether these liver in vitro cell models were indeed classified as liver, based on their baseline expression profile and gene regulatory networks (GRN). More comprehensive analyses using non-differentially expressed genes (non-DEGs) and differential transcript usage (DTU) were applied to assess the coverage for important liver pathways. Through different analyses, we noticed that 3D liver microtissues exhibited a high similarity with in vivo liver, in terms of CellNet (C/T score: 0.98), non-DEGs (10,363) and pathway coverage (highest for 19 out of 20 liver specific pathways shown) at the beginning of the incubation period (0 h) followed by a decrease during long-term incubation for 168 and 336 h. PHH also showed a high degree of similarity with human liver tissue and allowed stable conditions for a short-term cultivation period of 24 h. Using the same metrics, HepG2 cells illustrated the lowest similarity (C/T: 0.51, non-DEGs: 5623, and pathways coverage: least for 7 out of 20) with human liver tissue. The HepG2 are widely used in hepatotoxicity studies, however, due to their lower similarity, they should be used with caution. HepaRG models, iPSC-HLCs, and hPCLiS ranged clearly behind microtissues and PHH but showed higher similarity to human liver tissue than HepG2 cells. In conclusion, this study offers a resource of RNA-Seq data of several biological replicates of human liver cell models in vitro compared to human liver tissue.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-kai Yang ◽  
Hong-jiang Liu ◽  
Yuanyu Wang ◽  
Chen Li ◽  
Ji-peng Yang ◽  
...  

Background and Objective: Exosomes communicate inter-cellularly and miRNAs play critical roles in this scenario. MiR-214-5p was implicated in multiple tumors with diverse functions uncovered. However, whether miR-214-5p is mechanistically involved in glioblastoma, especially via exosomal pathway, is still elusive. Here we sought to comprehensively address the critical role of exosomal miR-214-5p in glioblastoma (GBM) microenvironment.Methods:The relative expression of miR-214-5p was determined by real-time PCR. Cell viability and migration were measured by MTT and transwell chamber assays, respectively. The secretory cytokines were measured with ELISA kits. The regulatory effect of miR-214-5p on CXCR5 expression was interrogated by luciferase reporter assay. Protein level was analyzed by Western blot.Results:We demonstrated that miR-214-5p was aberrantly overexpressed in GBM and associated with poorer clinical prognosis. High level of miR-214-5p significantly contributed to cell proliferation and migration. GBM-derived exosomal miR-214-5p promoted inflammatory response in primary microglia upon lipopolysaccharide challenge. We further identified CXCR5 as the direct target of miR-214- 5p in this setting.Conclusion:Overexpression of miR-214-5p in GBM modulated the inflammatory response in microglia via exosomal transfer.


Author(s):  
Reza Afrisham ◽  
Sahar Sadegh-Nejadi ◽  
Reza Meshkani ◽  
Solaleh Emamgholipour ◽  
Molood Bagherieh ◽  
...  

Introduction: Obesity is a disorder with low-grade chronic inflammation that plays a key role in the hepatic inflammation and steatosis. Moreover, there are studies to support the role of exosomes in the cellular communications, the regulation of metabolic homeostasis and immunomodulatory activity. Accordingly, we aimed to evaluate the influence of plasma circulating exosomes derived from females with normal-weight and obesity on the secretion of inflammatory cytokines in human liver cells. Methods: Plasma circulating exosomes were isolated from four normal (N-Exo) and four obese (O-Exo) women. The exosomes were characterized and approved for CD63 expression (common exosomal protein marker) and morphology/size using the western blot and TEM methods, respectively. The exosomes were used for stimulation of HepG2 cells in vitro. After 24 h incubation, the protein levels of TNF-α,IL-6, and IL-1β were measured in the culture supernatant of HepG2 cells using the ELISA kit. Results: The protein levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in the cells treated with O-Exo and N-Exo reduced significantly in comparison with control group (P=0.039 and P<0.001 respectively), while significance differences were not found between normal and obese groups (P=0.808, and P=0.978 respectively). However, no significant differences were found between three groups in term of IL-1β levels (P=0.069). Based on the correlation analysis, the protein levels of IL-6 were positively correlated with TNF-α (r 0.978, P<0.001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that plasma circulating exosomes have probably anti-inflammatory properties independently from body mass index and may decrease the secretion of inflammatory cytokines in liver. However, further investigations in vitro and in vivo are needed to address the anti-inflammatory function of N-Exo and O-Exo in human liver cells and/or other cells.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2560
Author(s):  
Luis G. Guijarro ◽  
Patricia Sanmartin-Salinas ◽  
Eva Pérez-Cuevas ◽  
M. Val Toledo-Lobo ◽  
Jorge Monserrat ◽  
...  

New evidence suggests that insulin receptor substrate 4 (IRS-4) may play an important role in the promotion of tumoral growth. In this investigation, we have evaluated the role of IRS-4 in a pilot study performed on patients with liver cancer. We used immunohistochemistry to examine IRS-4 expression in biopsies of tumoral tissue from a cohort of 31 patient suffering of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We simultaneously analyzed the expression of the cancer biomarkers PCNA, Ki-67, and pH3 in the same tissue samples. The in vitro analysis was conducted by studying the behavior of HepG2 cells following IRS-4 overexpression/silencing. IRS-4 was expressed mainly in the nuclei of tumoral cells from HCC patients. In contrast, in healthy cells involved in portal triads, canaliculi, and parenchymal tissue, IRS-4 was observed in the cytosol and the membrane. Nuclear IRS-4 in the tumoral region was found in 69.9 ± 3.2%, whereas in the surrounding healthy hepatocytes, nuclear IRS-4 was rarely observed. The percentage of tumoral cells that exhibited nuclear PCNA and Ki-67 were 52.1 ± 7%, 6.1 ± 1.1% and 1.3 ± 0.2%, respectively. Furthermore, we observed a significant positive linear correlation between nuclear IRS-4 and PCNA (r = 0.989; p < 0.001). However, when we correlated the nuclear expression of IRS-4 and Ki-67, we observed a significant positive curvilinear correlation (r = 0.758; p < 0.010). This allowed us to define two populations, (IRS-4 + Ki-67 ≤ 69%) and (IRS-4 + Ki-67 > 70%). The population with lower levels of IRS-4 and Ki-67 had a higher risk of suffering from multifocal liver cancer (OR = 16.66; CI = 1.68–164.8 (95%); p < 0.05). Immunoblot analyses showed that IRS-4 in normal human liver biopsies was lower than in HepG2, Huh7, and Chang cells. Treatment of HepG2 with IGF-1 and EGF induced IRS-4 translocation to the nucleus. Regulation of IRS-4 levels via HepG2 transfection experiments revealed the protein’s role in proliferation, cell migration, and cell-collagen adhesion. Nuclear IRS-4 is increased in the tumoral region of HCC. IRS-4 and Ki-67 levels are significantly correlated with the presence of multifocal HCC. Moreover, upregulation of IRS-4 in HepG2 cells induced proliferation by a β-catenin/Rb/cyclin D mechanism, whereas downregulation of IRS-4 caused a loss in cellular polarity and in its adherence to collagen as well as a gain in migratory and invasive capacities, probably via an integrin α2 and focal adhesion cascade (FAK) mechanism.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 4593
Author(s):  
Deepthi Venkatachalapathy ◽  
Chandan Shivamallu ◽  
Shashanka Prasad ◽  
Gopenath Thangaraj Saradha ◽  
Parthiban Rudrapathy ◽  
...  

The edible parts of the plants Camellia sinensis, Vitis vinifera and Withania somnifera were extensively used in ancient practices such as Ayurveda, owing to their potent biomedical significance. They are very rich in secondary metabolites such as polyphenols, which are very good antioxidants and exhibit anti-carcinogenic properties. This study aims to evaluate the anti-cancerous properties of these plant crude extracts on human liver cancer HepG2 cells. The leaves of Camellia sinensis, Withania somnifera and the seeds of Vitis vinifera were collected and methanolic extracts were prepared. Then, these extracts were subjected to DPPH, α- amylase assays to determine the antioxidant properties. A MTT assay was performed to investigate the viability of the extracts of HepG2 cells, and the mode of cell death was detected by Ao/EtBr staining and flow cytometry with PI Annexin- V FITC dual staining. Then, the protein expression of BAX and BCl2 was studied using fluorescent dye to determine the regulation of the BAX and BCl2 genes. We observed that all the three extracts showed the presence of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols or phytochemicals. The W. somnifera bioactive compounds were found to have the highest anti-proliferative activity on human liver cancer cells.


2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiano Bittencourt Machado ◽  
Wagner Coelho de Albuquerque Pereira ◽  
Mahmoud Meziri ◽  
Pascal Laugier

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