scholarly journals PNO1 regulates autophagy and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma via the MAPK signaling pathway

Author(s):  
Zhiqiang Han ◽  
Dongming Liu ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Yuchao He ◽  
Xiangdong Tian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Some studies have reported that the activated ribosomes are positively associated with malignant tumors, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The RNA-binding protein PNO1, as a critical ribosome has been rarely reported in human tumors. Thus, the roles of PNO1 in HCC should be explored. Methods We collected 150 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples and 8 fresh samples to explore the expression and prognosis of PNO1 in HCC by immunohistochemistry, Western Blotting and RT-PCR. Public databases (TCGA and GEO) were used to verify the expression and prognosis. The functions of PNO1 in HCC was verified by in vitro and in vivo experiments. The underlying molecular mechanisms of PNO1 were examined by RNA-seq analysis and a series of functional experiments. Results PNO1 expression was considerably higher in HCC tissues and the higher expression of PNO1 was associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. In vitro experiments indicated that PNO1 overexpression promoted proliferation and depressed apoptosis of HCC cells. In addition, high expression of PNO1 increased autophagy of HCC cells. Consistent results were also observed in vivo experiments. The results of the RNA-seq analysis indicted that PNO1 as an oncogene promoted HCC progression through the MAPK signaling pathway. The results were also verified by in vivo experiments. Conclusions PNO1 was overexpressed in HCC, promoted autophagy and inhibited apoptosis of HCC cells via the MAPK signaling pathway.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqiang Han ◽  
Dongming Liu ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Yuchao He ◽  
Xiangdong Tian ◽  
...  

AbstractSome studies have reported that activated ribosomes are positively associated with malignant tumors, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The RNA-binding protein PNO1 is a critical ribosome rarely reported in human tumors. This study aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms of PNO1 in HCC. Using 150 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples and 8 fresh samples, we found high PNO1 expression in HCC tumor tissues through Western blotting and RT-PCR. Moreover, the higher PNO1 expression was associated with poor HCC prognosis patients. In vitro and in vivo experiments indicated that PNO1 overexpression promoted the proliferation and depressed the apoptosis of HCC cells. High PNO1 expression also increased the autophagy of HCC cells. The molecular mechanisms underlying PNO1 were examined by RNA-seq analysis and a series of functional experiments. Results showed that PNO1 promoted HCC progression through the MAPK signaling pathway. Therefore, PNO1 was overexpressed in HCC, promoted autophagy, and inhibited the apoptosis of HCC cells through the MAPK signaling pathway.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Si-Zhe Yu ◽  
Shi-Rong Zhang ◽  
Jia Hou ◽  
Min Jiao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Sorafenib has been recognized as the standard therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Besides, efficacy of sorafenib was unsatisfactory and vast patients are resistant to sorafenib. Thus, molecular mechanisms underlying regulation of sorafenib resistance and seeking potential strategy to improve its efficacy have attracted much attention. As a small-molecule inhibitor of IGF-1R, NT157 has potent antitumor activity against some human cancers. However, whether NT157 has potential anti-tumor effects and its molecular mechanisms in HCC remain poorly understood. Methods: We assessed the effects and explored the mechanism of NT157 and sorafenib as single agents or in combination with sorafenib in HCC cells and mouse model. Further, we further demonstrated that NT157 reversed resistance to sorafenib in HCC.Results: Here, we found NT157 inhibited HCC growth and induced apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. In terms of mechanism, NT157 phosphorylated IRS-1 through ERK-MAPK signaling to be degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, lowered p-AKT to deactivate IGF-1R signaling to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis. Surprisingly, we further demonstrated that NT157 acted synergistically with sorafenib to inhibit proliferation and contributed to sensitize HCC cells to sorafenib by down-regulation of p-AKT. Conclusions: Overall, our findings provide a translational rationale for inhibition of IGF-1R and downstream signaling pathways by NT157 as a novel targeted therapy alone or combined with sorafenib in HCC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peiyi Xie ◽  
Qing Li ◽  
Qing Chao ◽  
Jiayu Fang ◽  
Jing Xie ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundDeubiquitinase (DUB) zinc finger RANBP2-type containing 1 (ZRANB1/TRABID) has been reported to have a close relationship with cancers. However, its underlying role and molecular mechanisms in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain elusive. MethodsGene and protein expression of ZRANB1 in HCC tissues were determined by qRT-PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry. A series of gain- and loss-of-function assays were used to investigated the role of ZRANB1 in HCC cells progression. Moreover, RNA-seq were used to identify the downstream targets of ZRANB1 in HCC cells. The interaction between ZRANB1 and SP1 was examined through co-IP experiment and in vitro ubiquitination assay.ResultsZRANB1 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and ZRANB1 can regulate HCC cell growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Through RNA-seq, we identified that Lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) was the most significantly downregulated gene after ZRANB1 knockdown. Furthermore, the scatter plots indicated a significant positive correlation between ZRANB1 and LOXL2 expression in clinical HCC specimens. Additionally, LOXL2 was essential for ZRANB1-mediated HCC growth and metastasis. More importantly, specificity protein 1 (SP1) was critical in ZRANB1-mediated regulation of LOXL2 expression. Mechanistically, ZRANB1 bound with SP1 directly and stabilized the SP1 protein by deubiquitinating it. The expression patterns of ZRANB1, SP1 and LOXL2 were evaluated in HCC patients. ConclusionZRANB1 overexpression facilitates the carcinogenesis of HCC through stabilizing and upregulating SP1 to promote LOXL2 expression, suggesting ZRANB1 can be novel prognostic biomarker for HCC treatment.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Shi ◽  
Cao Guo ◽  
Junli Ma

Abstract Background: A major reason for treatment failure of cancer is acquisition of drug resistance. The specific mechanisms underlying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) chemoresistance need to be fully elucidated. lncRNAs involve in drug resistance in some cancers, however, the exact functions of lncRNA colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (CCAT1) in oxaliplatin resistance in HCC need to be elucidated.Methods: Functional analysis of CCAT1 on oxaliplatin sensitivity was performed in HCC cell lines HCCLM3 and HepG2, and in a subcutaneous tumor model receiving OXA treatment. Furthermore, the downstream signaling targets of CCAT1 in HCC were explored. Results: CCAT1 promoted HCC proliferation and reduced the apoptosis induced by oxaliplatin. Knockout of CCAT1 could increased chemosensitivity in vitro and in vivo. Further study found that QKI-5 was an important mediator and blocking of QKI-5/p38 MAPK signaling pathway enhanced oxaliplatin sensitivity.Conclusions: CCAT1 promoted proliferation and oxaliplatin resistance by QKI-5/p38 MAPK signaling pathway in HCC. Targeting CCAT1 in combination with chemotherapeutics may be a promising alternative to reverse drug resistance in HCC treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenzhou Ding ◽  
Ye Fan ◽  
Wenbo Jia ◽  
Xiongxiong Pan ◽  
Guoyong Han ◽  
...  

ObjectivesFeline sarcoma-related protein (FER) is known to play a critical regulatory role in several carcinomas. However, the exact biological function of FER in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still needs to be investigated. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the unknown function and molecular mechanisms of FER in HCC.Materials and MethodsThe expression level of FER in HCC tissue samples and cells was examined by RT-qPCR, immunohistochemistry and western blot. Cellular and animal experiments were used to explore the effect of FER on the proliferative and metastatic capacities of HCC cells. The crosstalk between FER and NF-κB signaling was explored by western blot. The upstream factors that regulate FER were evaluated through dual-luciferase experiments and western blot assays.ResultsFER was overexpressed in HCC specimens and HCC cell lines. FER expression levels were positively associated with unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics. The higher the expression of FER was, the worse the overall survival of HCC patients was. The results of loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments indicated that knockdown of FER decreased, while overexpression of FER increased, the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we found that FER activated the NF-κB signaling pathway and stimulated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We also found that FER was directly regulated by miR-206, and the downregulation of miR-206 was associated with proliferation and metastatic progression in HCC.ConclusionsThe present research was the first to reveal that a decrease in miR-206 levels results in an increase in FER expression in HCC, leading to enhanced cell growth and metastatic abilities via activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway.


2020 ◽  
Vol Volume 14 ◽  
pp. 2667-2684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Zhou ◽  
Xingchun Wu ◽  
Luhui Qin ◽  
Shunyu Lu ◽  
Hongliang Zhang ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Jiao ◽  
Wang Tang ◽  
He Huang ◽  
Zhaofei Zhang ◽  
Donghua Liu ◽  
...  

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are widely used in tissue engineering for regenerative medicine due to their multipotent differentiation potential. However, their poor migration ability limits repair effects. Icariin (ICA), a major component of the Chinese medical herb Herba Epimedii, has been reported to accelerate the proliferation, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation of BMSCs. However, it remains unknown whether ICA can enhance BMSC migration, and the possible underlying mechanisms need to be elucidated. In this study, we found that ICA significantly increased the migration capacity of BMSCs, with an optimal concentration of 1 μmol/L. Moreover, we found that ICA stimulated actin stress fiber formation in BMSCs. Our work revealed that activation of the MAPK signaling pathway was required for ICA-induced migration and actin stress fiber formation. In vivo, ICA promoted the recruitment of BMSCs to the cartilage defect region. Taken together, these results show that ICA promotes BMSC migration in vivo and in vitro by inducing actin stress fiber formation via the MAPK signaling pathway. Thus, combined administration of ICA with BMSCs has great potential in cartilage defect therapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Qingmin Chen ◽  
Ludong Tan ◽  
Zhe Jin ◽  
Yahui Liu ◽  
Ze Zhang

Cellular retinoic acid-binding protein 2 (CRABP2) binds retinoic acid (RA) in the cytoplasm and transports it into the nucleus, allowing for the regulation of specific downstream signal pathway. Abnormal expression of CRABP2 has been detected in the development of several tumors. However, the role of CRABP2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has never been revealed. The current study aimed to investigate the role of CRABP2 in HCC and illuminate the potential molecular mechanisms. The expression of CRABP2 in HCC tissues and cell lines was detected by western blotting and immunohistochemistry assays. Our results demonstrated that the expression levels of CRABP2 in HCC tissues were elevated with the tumor stage development, and it was also elevated in HCC cell lines. To evaluate the function of CRABP2, shRNA-knockdown strategy was used in HCC cells. Cell proliferation, metastasis, and apoptosis were analyzed by CCK-8, EdU staining, transwell, and flow cytometry assays, respectively. Based on our results, knockdown of CRABP2 by shRNA resulted in the inhibition of tumor proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro, followed by increased tumor apoptosis-related protein expression and decreased ERK/VEGF pathway-related proteins expression. CRABP2 silencing in HCC cells also resulted in the failure to develop tumors in vivo. These results provide important insights into the role of CRABP2 in the development and development of HCC. Based on our findings, CRABP2 may be used as a novel diagnostic biomarker, and regulation of CRABP2 in HCC may provide a potential molecular target for the therapy of HCC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Xu ◽  
Hu Tian ◽  
Chao Guang Luan ◽  
Kai Sun ◽  
peng Jin Bao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) in China is considered as a familiar malignant tumor with poor prognosis, high metastasis and disease relapse. Telocytes(TCs) have been verified to participate in progresses of tumorigenesis, invasions and migrations by secreting functional proteins and transmitting cell-to-cell information. Extracellular signal-regulared protein kinase(ERK) signal pathway is a vital mechanism driving cell proliferation, metastasis and apoptosis, but whether this molecular signaling mechanism contributes to matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP) expression of TCs remains unclear. Methods: Telocytes and MMP9 expression in the liver cancer tissues are measured by immunohistochemistry assay, Westen blot assay and RT-PCR technique, meanwhile primary telocytes from liver para-cancer tissues are cultured in vitro. To demonstrate the function of telocytes for hepatocellular carcinoma, the metastatic cancer animal model is established by three typs of liver cancer cell-lines in vivo. Results: In our study, we elucidate that TCs in the para-cancer tissue can promote the metastasis of HCC cells by MMP-9 expression, in vitro and in vivo. PDGF derived from HCC cells has a capacity to activate Ras/ERK signaling pathway of TC as a result of accelerating MMP-9 expression, but it’s no significant for proliferative potential and apoptotic rate of TCs. While tyrosine kinase inhibitors and miR-942-3p suppress MMP-9 expression to make loss functions of TCs. Various mutations of TCs are also tested and single nucleotide polymorphisms of MMP-9 may be the potentially molecular mechanism of increasing protein expression in the invasive process of HCC. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate two potential mechanisms between HCC cells and TCs, suggesting that TC is a novel marker and target on deciphering reasons of cancer metastasis.


Author(s):  
Yuanjun Lu ◽  
Yau-Tuen Chan ◽  
Hor-Yue Tan ◽  
Cheng Zhang ◽  
Wei Guo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Drug resistance to sorafenib greatly limited the benefits of treatment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) participate in the development of drug resistance. The key miRNA regulators related to the clinical outcome of sorafenib treatment and their molecular mechanisms remain to be identified. Methods The clinical significance of miRNA-related epigenetic changes in sorafenib-resistant HCC was evaluated by analyzing publicly available databases and in-house human HCC tissues. The biological functions of miR-23a-3p were investigated both in vitro and in vivo. Proteomics and bioinformatics analyses were conducted to identify the mechanisms that regulating miR-23a-3p. Luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay were used to validate the binding relationship of miR-23a-3p and its targets. Results We found that miR-23a-3p was the most prominent miRNA in HCC, which was overexpressed in sorafenib non-responders and indicated poor survival and HCC relapse. Sorafenib-resistant cells exhibited increased miR-23a-3p transcription in an ETS Proto-Oncogene 1 (ETS1)-dependent manner. CRISPR-Cas9 knockout of miR-23a-3p improved sorafenib response in HCC cells as well as orthotopic HCC tumours. Proteomics analysis suggested that sorafenib-induced ferroptosis was the key pathway suppressed by miR-23a-3p with reduced cellular iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation. MiR-23a-3p directly targeted the 3′-untranslated regions (UTR) of ACSL4, the key positive regulator of ferroptosis. The miR-23a-3p inhibitor rescued ACSL4 expression and induced ferrotoptic cell death in sorafenib-treated HCC cells. The co-delivery of ACSL4 siRNA and miR-23a-3p inhibitor abolished sorafenib response. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that ETS1/miR-23a-3p/ACSL4 axis contributes to sorafenib resistance in HCC through regulating ferroptosis. Our findings suggest that miR-23a-3p could be a potential target to improve sorafenib responsiveness in HCC patients.


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