scholarly journals Arctigenin Attenuates Tumor Metastasis Through Inhibiting Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition in Hepatocellular Carcinoma via Suppressing GSK3β-Dependent Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway In Vivo and In Vitro

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Lu ◽  
Lingling Chang ◽  
Hongbo Zhou ◽  
Xiaoqiang Liu ◽  
Yinqian Li ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ping Zhong ◽  
Jiahong Wang ◽  
Jie Mei ◽  
Lianghe Lu ◽  
Yihong Ling ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Anthracycline resistance have hindered the efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). Translational research is therefore in need to find potential combinations by studying the resistance mechanism of anthracycline. In our published work, we found Cezanne could predict the efficacy of adjuvant TACE (ad-TACE) and induce epithelium mesenchymal transition (EMT) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We hereby conduct a sequential investigation to reveal the role of Cezanne on EMT and its potential to retard resistance. Methods The response of Cezanne in patients treated with adjuvant TACE after hepatectomy was evaluated. Functional assays were used to examine the resistance function of Cezanne to anthracyclin. In-situ tumorigenesis models and intraperitoneal perfusion chemotherapy experiment were used for in vivo verification. Results High expression of Cezanne correlated to a better outcome. Multivariate analysis showed low expression of Cezanne and the application of postoperative ad-TACE therapy were independent prognostic risk factors. However, patient outcome was significantly shorter in high Cezanne group of ad-TACE patients. In vitro assays revealed that HCC functions were inhibited after overexpressing Cezanne (OE-Cezanne). After treated with epirubicin, however, OE-Cezanne cell lines did not respond to treatment. In vivo experiment was consistent with in vitro assays. Besides, high Cezanne transforms cell morphology and is correlated to the activation of EMT related genes. Gene set analysis showed that Cezanne can regulate PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Therefore, mTOR inhibitor Rapamycin can reverse the resisting effect of Cezanne on HCC cell lines. Conclusions Adjuvant anthracycline-based TACE treatment after curative surgery can reduce the recurrence rate in HCC patients. However, in patients with high Cezanne expression, the efficacy of TACE may be undermined by EMT inducement. We discovered Cezanne modulates EMT by activating the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and provided evidence for the rationale of combining mTOR inhibitor with TACE to prevent recurrence in HCC patients.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiming Li ◽  
Cong Xu ◽  
Bo Sun ◽  
Fangjing Zhong ◽  
Momo Cao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Piezo1 plays critical roles in vascular development during early embryogenesis. However, the function of Piezo1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain elusive. This study aimed to explore the function and mechanisms of Piezo1 in HCC. Methods qRT-PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry analyses were used to determine Piezo1 expression in HCC samples and cell lines. The clinical significance of Piezo1 was assessed in two independent study cohorts containing 280 patients with HCC. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore the signaling pathway of Piezo1. A series of in vitro and in vivo experiments were used to determine the role and molecular mechanism of Piezo1 in HCC progression. Results Piezo1 expression was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. High Piezo1 expression was closely correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features, poor clinical outcomes of HCC patients. Moreover, knockdown of Piezo1 in HCCLM3 and Hep3B cells significantly inhibited proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HCC cells in vitro, and tumor growth, EMT and metastasis in vivo. Further mechanism study indicated that these phenotypic and function changes were mediated by TGF-β signaling pathway. Finally, we proved that Piezo1 exerted its tumor promotion effect by recruiting Rab5c to activating TGF-β signaling pathway. Conclusions We proved Piezo1 promotes progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via TGF-β signaling, which may serve as a novel prognostic predictor and the potential therapeutic target for HCC patients.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Reid MacPherson ◽  
Patricia Molina ◽  
Serhiy Souchelnytskyi ◽  
Christer Wernstedt ◽  
Jorge Martin-Pérez ◽  
...  

Snail1 is a major factor for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), an important event in tumor metastasis and in other pathologies. Snail1 is tightly regulated at transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Control of Snail1 protein stability and nuclear export by GSK3β phosphorylation is important for Snail1 functionality. Stabilization mechanisms independent of GSK3β have also been reported, including interaction with LOXL2 or regulation of the COP9 signalosome by inflammatory signals. To get further insights into the role of Snail1 phosphorylation, we have performed an in-depth analysis of in vivo human Snail1 phosphorylation combined with mutational studies. We identify new phosphorylation sites at serines 11, 82, and 92 and confirmed previously suggested phosphorylations at serine 104 and 107. Serines 11 and 92 participate in the control of Snail1 stability and positively regulate Snail1 repressive function and its interaction with mSin3A corepressor. Furthermore, serines 11 and 92 are required for Snail1-mediated EMT and cell viability, respectively. PKA and CK2 have been characterized as the main kinases responsible for in vitro Snail1 phosphorylation at serine 11 and 92, respectively. These results highlight serines 11 and 92 as new players in Snail1 regulation and suggest the participation of CK2 and PKA in the modulation of Snail1 functionality.


2018 ◽  
Vol 243 (7) ◽  
pp. 645-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Quan Yan ◽  
Juan Xie ◽  
Jing-Fu Wang ◽  
Zhao-Feng Shi ◽  
Xiang Zhang ◽  
...  

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most malignant diseases worldwide. The unfavorable clinical outcome and poor prognosis are due to high rates of recurrence and metastasis after treatments. Some scholars of traditional Chinese medicine suggested that endogenous wind-evil had played an important role in metastasis of malignant tumor. Therefore, the drug of dispelling wind-evil could be used to prevent cancer metastasis and improve the poor prognosis. So we wondered whether Scorpion, one of the most important wind calming drugs, has antitumor effect especially in epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis of HCC in this research. We found that Scorpion-medicated serum could inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, and decrease migration and invasion capacity of Hepa1-6 cells in vitro. Meanwhile, we observed that water decoction of Scorpion restrained tumor growth and metastasis in nude mouse of HCC metastasis models. Further experiments showed that Scorpion could suppress EMT, which is characterized by increased epithelial marker E-cadherin expression and decreased mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and Snail expression following Scorpion treatment both in vitro and in vivo. These results suggested that the Scorpion could inhibit Hepa1-6 cells’ invasion and metastasis in part by reversing EMT and providing a possible potential approach for preventing HCC metastasis. Impact statement The unfavorable clinical outcome and poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are due to high rates of recurrence and metastasis after treatments. Here we found Scorpion, one of the most important wind calming drugs, has antitumor effect. Scorpion-medicated serum inhibited the proliferation, induced apoptosis, and decreased migration and invasion capacity of Hepa1-6 cells in vitro. Water decoction of Scorpion restrained tumor growth and metastasis in nude mouse of HCC metastasis models. Further experiments showed that Scorpion could suppress EMT of HCC both in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggested that the Scorpion could inhibit Hepa1-6 cells’ invasion and metastasis in part by reversing EMT and providing a possible potential approach for preventing HCC metastasis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yajuan Cao ◽  
Binghua Li ◽  
Xianbiao Shi ◽  
Hongyan Wu ◽  
Chen Yan ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bei Li ◽  
Ang Li ◽  
Zhen You ◽  
Jingchang Xu ◽  
Sha Zhu

Abstract Enhanced SNHG1 (small nucleolar RNA host gene 1) expression has been found to play a critical role in the initiation and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with its detailed mechanism largely unknown. In this study, we show that SNHG1 promotes the HCC progression through epigenetically silencing CDKN1A and CDKN2B in the nucleus, and competing with CDK4 mRNA for binding miR-140-5p in the cytoplasm. Using bioinformatics analyses, we found hepatocarcinogenesis is particularly associated with dysregulated expression of SNHG1 and activation of the cell cycle pathway. SNHG1 was upregulated in HCC tissues and cells, and its knockdown significantly inhibited HCC cell cycle, growth, metastasis, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) both in vitro and in vivo. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and RNA immunoprecipitation assays demonstrate that SNHG1 inhibit the transcription of CDKN1A and CDKN2B through enhancing EZH2 mediated-H3K27me3 in the promoter of CDKN1A and CDKN2B, thus resulting in the de-repression of the cell cycle. Dual-luciferase assay and RNA pulldown revealed that SNHG1 promotes the expression of CDK4 by competitively binding to miR-140-5p. In conclusion, we propose that SNHG1 formed a regulatory network to confer an oncogenic function in HCC and SNHG1 may serve as a potential target for HCC diagnosis and treatment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Zhu ◽  
Yuanfei Peng ◽  
Jinwu Hu ◽  
Hao Zhan ◽  
Liuxiao Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Accumulating data suggest that metadherin (MTDH) may function as an oncogene. Our previous study showed that MTDH promotes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis via the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In this study, we aim to further elucidate how MTDH promotes HCC metastasis. Using Co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) and mass spectrometry, we found that MTDH can specifically bind to protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5). Further functional assays revealed that PRMT5 overexpression promoted the proliferation and motility of HCC cells and that knockout of PRMT5 impeded the effect of MTDH. The immunohistochemistry assay/tissue microarray results showed that when MTDH was overexpressed in HCC cells, PRMT5 translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, with the subsequent translocation of β-catenin from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and upregulation of the WNT–β-catenin signaling pathway. Further in vivo experiments suggested that PRMT5 and β-catenin played a pivotal role in MTDH-mediated HCC metastasis. We therefore concluded that the MTDH–PRMT5 complex promotes HCC metastasis by regulating the WNT–β-catenin signaling pathway.


2019 ◽  
Vol 133 (14) ◽  
pp. 1645-1662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan-rong Zhao ◽  
Ji-long Wang ◽  
Cong Xu ◽  
Yi-ming Li ◽  
Bo Sun ◽  
...  

Abstract Heart development protein with EGF-like domains 1 (HEG1) plays critical roles in embryo development and angiogenesis, which are closely related to tumor progression. However, the role of HEG1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. In the present study, we explored the clinical significance, biological function and regulatory mechanisms of HEG1 in HCC and found that HEG1 is significantly up-regulated in HCC cell lines and primary tumor samples. Additionally, high HEG1 expression is correlated with aggressive clinicopathological features. Patients with high HEG1 expression had shorter overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) than those with low HEG1 expression, which indicated that HEG1 is an independent factor for poor prognosis. Lentivirus-mediated HEG1 overexpression significantly promotes HCC cell migration, invasion and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in vitro and promotes intrahepatic metastasis, lung metastasis and EMT in vivo. Opposing results are observed when HEG1 is silenced. Mechanistically, HEG1 promotes β-catenin expression and maintains its stability, leading to intracellular β-catenin accumulation, β-catenin nuclear translocation and Wnt signaling activation. Loss- and gain-of-function assays further confirmed that β-catenin is essential for HEG1-mediated promotion of HCC invasion, metastasis and EMT. In conclusion, HEG1 indicates poor prognosis; plays important roles in HCC invasion, metastasis and EMT by activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling; and can serve as a potentially valuable prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 931-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Di Liang ◽  
Zhonghui Zhu ◽  
Xiaoli Li ◽  
Guoliang An ◽  
...  

Silica induced EMT and decreased the expression of BMP-7 in vivo and in vitro, while exogenous BMP-7 promoted MET and inhibited silica-induced EMT associated with inhibition of the p38 MAPK/transcription factor (TF) signaling pathway in RLE-6TN cells.


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