scholarly journals RETRACTED ARTICLE: α2,6-Sialylation mediates hepatocellular carcinoma growth in vitro and in vivo by targeting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway

Oncogenesis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. e343-e343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Zhao ◽  
A Wei ◽  
H Zhang ◽  
X Chen ◽  
L Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Abnormal sialylation due to overexpression of sialyltransferases has been associated with tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Although ST6Gal-I influences cancer persistence and progression by affecting various receptors, the underlying mechanisms and mediators remain largely obscure, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We found that ST6Gal-I expression was markedly upregulated in HCC tissues and cells, high levels being associated with aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis. Furthermore, we examined the roles and mechanisms of ST6Gal-I in HCC tumorigenesis and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. ST6Gal-I overexpression promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of Huh-7 cells, whereas its knockdown restricted these abilities in MHCC97-H cells. Additionally, in a mouse xenograft model, ST6Gal-I-knockdown MHCC97-H cells formed significantly smaller tumors, implying that ST6Gal-I overexpression can induce HCC cell malignant transformation. Importantly, enhanced HCC tumorigenesis and metastasis by ST6Gal-I may be associated with Wnt/β-catenin signaling promotion, including β-catenin nuclear transition and upregulation of downstream molecules. Together, our results suggest a role for ST6Gal-I in promoting the growth and invasion of HCC cells through the modulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling molecules, and that ST6Gal-I might be a promising marker for prognosis and therapy of HCC.

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1904-1914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Ye ◽  
Jinkuang Lin ◽  
Xuedong Yao ◽  
Yizhong Li ◽  
Xiaobin Lin ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Increasing evidence demonstrates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical regulatory roles in cancers, including osteosarcoma. A previous study showed that Nicotinamide Nucleotide Transhydrogenase-antisense RNA1 (NNT-AS1) was aberrantly expressed in several types of cancer. However, the potential biological roles and regulatory mechanisms of NNT-AS1 in osteosarcoma progression remain unknown. Methods: Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to examine the expression of NNT-AS1 in human tissues and cells. The biological functions of NNT-AS1 were determined by CCK-8, colony formation, Flow cytometry and Transwell assays in vitro. A mouse xenograft model was performed to investigate the effect of NNT-AS1 on tumor growth in vivo. Results: In this study, we found the expression of NNT-AS1 was significantly increased in tumor tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. Furthermore, upregulated NNT-AS1 expression predicted poor prognosis and was an independent and significant risk factor for osteosarcoma patient survival. Further experiments revealed that NNT-AS1 knockdown significantly inhibited cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest and promoting apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells. Moreover, NNT-AS1 silencing suppressed cell migration and invasion in vitro. In a tumor xenograft model, knockdown of NNT-AS1 suppressed tumor growth of OS-732 cells in vivo. Conclusions: Taken together, these findings indicate that NNT-AS1 functions as an oncogene in osteosarcoma and could be a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.


Author(s):  
Boqiang Liu ◽  
Yuanshi Tian ◽  
Mingyu Chen ◽  
Hao Shen ◽  
Jiafeng Xia ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe physiological regulatory functions of circRNAs have become a topic of intensive research in recent years. Increasing evidence supports a significant role of circRNAs during cancer initiation and progression, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Materials and MethodsA bioinformatics analysis from three independent Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases was performed to profile and screen the dysregulated circRNAs in HCC. RT-qPCR was used to examine the expression level of circUBAP2 in HCC and adjacent non-tumor tissues. Then, proliferation assays (CCK8 and colony formation) and migration assays (transwell and wound healing) were performed to examine effect of circUBAP2 in vitro. Immunoprecipitation, RNA pulldown, FISH, and dual-luciferase reporter assay was conducted to explore the circUBAP2-related mechanism for regulating HCC progression. Moreover, a mouse xenograft model and a mouse lung metastasis model confirmed the effect of circUBAP2 in vivo.ResultsIn this study, we found a novel circRNA: circUBAP2, which was identified by bioinformatics analysis. Among 91 HCC patients, circUBAP2 was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues, and negatively correlated with aggressive clinical characteristics and prognosis. Functional assays demonstrated that circUBAP2 promoted cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion in vitro. Moreover, circUBAP2 enhanced tumor growth and pulmonary metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, circUBAP2 acts as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-194-3p, a tumor suppressor in HCC. We confirmed that MMP9 was direct target for miR-194-3p, which was regulated by circUBAP2.ConclusionCircUBAP2 plays a significant role in promoting HCC via the miR-194-3p/MMP9 pathway and could serve as a promising prognostic biomarker and novel therapeutic target for HCC patients.


Author(s):  
Gege Shu ◽  
Huizhao Su ◽  
Zhiqian Wang ◽  
Shihui Lai ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has an extremely poor prognosis due to the development of chemoresistance, coupled with inherently increased stemness properties. Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) are key regulators for tumor cell stemness and chemosensitivity. Currently the relevance between LINC00680 and tumor progression was still largely unknown, with only one study showing its significance in glioblastoma. The study herein was aimed at identifying the role of LINC00680 in the regulation HCC stemness and chemosensitivity. Methods QRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of LINC00680, miR-568 and AKT3 in tissue specimen and cell lines. Gain- or loss-of function assays were applied to access the function of LINC00680 in HCC cells, including cell proliferation and stemness properties. HCC stemness and chemosensitivity were determined by sphere formation, cell viability and colony formation. Luciferase reporter, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), and RNA pull-down assays were performed to examine the interaction between LINC00680 and miR-568 as well as that between miR-568 and AKT3. A nude mouse xenograft model was established for the in vivo study. Results We found that LINC00680 was remarkably upregulated in HCC tissues. Patients with high level of LINC00680 had poorer prognosis. LINC00680 overexpression significantly enhanced HCC cell stemness and decreased in vitro and in vivo chemosensitivity to 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), whereas LINC00680 knockdown led to opposite results. Mechanism study revealed that LINC00680 regulated HCC stemness and chemosensitivity through sponging miR-568, thereby expediting the expression of AKT3, which further activated its downstream signaling molecules, including mTOR, elF4EBP1, and p70S6K. Conclusion LINC00680 promotes HCC stemness properties and decreases chemosensitivity through sponging miR-568 to activate AKT3, suggesting that LINC00680 might be a potentially important HCC diagnosis marker and therapeutic target.


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.


Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomomi Sanomachi ◽  
Shuhei Suzuki ◽  
Keita Togashi ◽  
Asuka Sugai ◽  
Shizuka Seino ◽  
...  

Spironolactone, a classical diuretic drug, is used to treat tumor-associated complications in cancer patients. Spironolactone was recently reported to exert anti-cancer effects by suppressing DNA damage repair. However, it currently remains unclear whether spironolactone exerts combinational effects with non-DNA-damaging anti-cancer drugs, such as gemcitabine and epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). Using the cancer cells of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and glioblastoma, the combinational effects of spironolactone with gemcitabine and osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR-TKI, were examined in vitro with cell viability assays. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we investigated alterations induced in survivin, an anti-apoptotic protein, by spironolactone as well as the chemosensitization effects of the suppression of survivin by YM155, an inhibitor of survivin, and siRNA. We also examined the combinational effects in a mouse xenograft model. The results obtained revealed that spironolactone augmented cell death and the suppression of cell growth by gemcitabine and osimertinib. Spironolactone also reduced the expression of survivin in these cells, and the pharmacological and genetic suppression of survivin sensitized cells to gemcitabine and osimertinib. This combination also significantly suppressed tumor growth without apparent adverse effects in vivo. In conclusion, spironolactone is a safe candidate drug that exerts anti-cancer effects in combination with non-DNA-damaging drugs, such as gemcitabine and osimertinib, most likely through the suppression of survivin.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junping Pan ◽  
Yingzhe Hu ◽  
Chenlu Yuan ◽  
Yafu Wu ◽  
Xinhua Zhu

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors with high mortality and poor prognosis. Long non-coding RNAs NEAT1 (lncRNA NEAT1) have been found to play an important role in HCC progression. However, the role and potential molecular mechanism of lncRNA NEAT1 in HCC remain largely unclear. Methods The role of lncRNA NEAT1 both in vitro and in vivo was investigated, with RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays being performed to determine the interaction among NEAT1 and FOXO3 and PKM2. In addition, HCC cells were treated with exosomes derived from NEAT1-overexpressing HCC cells, and then cell proliferation, migration and invasion were assessed using in vitro assays. Results In this study, overexpression of NEAT1 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells, whereas NEAT1 knockdown exhibited the opposite effects. Mechanistically, NEAT1 was found to recruit transcription factor FOXO3 to PKM2 promoter region and upregulate PKM2 expression. Meanwhile, overexpression of NEAT1 increased tumor growth and metastasis in a mouse xenograft model of HCC in vivo via upregulation of PKM2. Furthermore, overexpression of NEAT1 promoted exosome release from HCC cells. Exosomes secreted from NEAT1-overexpressing HCC cells promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells. Conclusion We found that NEAT1 could promote HCC progression via upregulation of PKM2 and exosome-mediated transfer. These data indicated that NEAT1 may be a therapeutic target in HCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-315
Author(s):  
Xiao-Jun Wang ◽  
Fei-Fei Li ◽  
Yi-Jing Zhang ◽  
Man Jiang ◽  
Wan-Hua Ren

BACKGROUND: Tribbles pseudokinase 3 (TRIB3) is a member of the tribbles-related family, which is involved a lot of cellular processes and multiple cancers, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, renal cell carcinomas, and lung cancer. However, the expression pattern and biological function of TRIB3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not yet been completely elucidated. METHODS: The expression of TRIB3 and clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated by HCC tissue microarray and qPCR analysis. Lentivirus packaging and transfection were employed to establish cell lines with TRIB3 overexpression or knockdown. The biological functions of TRIB3 in the growth of HCC were determined using MTT and crystal violet assays. Tumor growth was monitored in a xenograft model in vivo. RESULTS: The expression of TRIB3 was upregulated in HCC tissue samples compared to paired normal tissues in 45 patients examined by qPCR assay. TRIB3 expression was significantly correlated with HCC tumor size and prognosis in postoperative patients by analysis of the TRIB3 expression data and HCC clinical features. Forced expression of TRIB3 significantly promoted HCC growth in vitro. In contrast, downregulation of TRIB3 inhibited cell growth in vitro. Moreover, knockdown of TRIB3 suppressed tumorigenesis of HCC cells in vivo. CONCLUSION: TRIB3 promotes growth abilities of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo and predicts poor prognosis of HCC patients, which serves as a prognostic marker and might provide a potential therapeutic candidate for patients with HCC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junsheng Cheng ◽  
Wei Han ◽  
Zheyuan Wang ◽  
Yuan Shao ◽  
Yingzhen Wang ◽  
...  

Euphorbia helioscopiaL. is a traditional Chinese medicine; recently research found that its ethyl acetate extract (EAE) plays an important role on tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and metastasisin vitro. But the effect of EAE for tumor cellsin vivohas not been reported. To explore the inhibitory effect of EAE and molecular mechanism on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) SMMC-7721 cellsin vivo, we utilized the nude mouse xenograft model of HCC. Treated with EAE (50, 100, and 200 μg/mL), the volume of xenograft was measured during the entire process of EAE treatment. In EAE treatment group, the volume of xenograft was significantly reduced compared with the control group (P<0.05) and the protein expressions of CyclinD1, bcl-2, and MMP-9 were reduced, while those of bax, caspase-3, and nm23-H1 were increased. A significant change trend with increasing EAE concentrations has presented, compared with controls. Moreover, the ultrastructural morphology of xenografts showed significant changes, including nuclear pyknosis and chromatin condensation, We found that EAE could effectively inhibit tumor growth, induce apoptosis, and inhibit tumor invasion and metastasisin vivo; it is suggested that EAE is a potential candidate for as a new anticancer agent.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Yang ◽  
Hailong Si ◽  
Meng Ma ◽  
Yu Fang ◽  
Yina Jiang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Microarray profiles of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) identified that long intergenic noncoding RNA 00221 (LINC00221) was upregulated. Herein, we aimed to identify the functional significance and underlying mechanisms of LINC00221 in HCC. Methods and results Human HCC samples had increased expression of LINC00221. Effects of LINC00221 on HCC cellular functions were analyzed using gain- and loss-function approaches. LINC00221 knockdown repressed HCC cell growth, migration, and invasion and enhanced their apoptosis. This anti-tumor effect was validated in vivo. Online prediction showed the potential binding relationship between LINC00221 and let-7a-5p, as well as that between let-7a-5p and matrix metalloproteinase 11 (MMP11). The results of luciferase, RNA immunoprecipitation, and RNA pull-down assays identified that LINC00221 interacted with let-7a-5p to increase expression of MMP11. Furthermore, we demonstrated that LINC00221 silencing increased let-7a-5p and inhibited MMP11 expression, thereby delaying the progression of HCC in vitro. Conclusions Silencing of LINC00221 could prevent HCC progression via upregulating let-7a-5p and downregulating MMP11. As such, LINC00221 inhibition presents a promising antitumor strategy for the treatment of HCC.


Oncogene ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanwei Lu ◽  
Xudong Li ◽  
Hongli Liu ◽  
Jun Xue ◽  
Zhen Zeng ◽  
...  

AbstractDistant metastasis is the leading cause of treatment failure in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Here, we report that Leucine zipper tumor suppressor 2 (LZTS2) is downregulated and correlated with poor prognosis in HCC. Furthermore, we provide evidence that LZTS2 associates with p85 to inhibit the activation of PI3K/AKT signaling and impairs HCC tumorigenesis and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we identify LZTS2 as a bona fide substrate of the E3 ligase β-Trcp and protein kinase CK1δ, which are responsible for the ubiquitination and degradation of LZTS2. Importantly, we show that the β-Trcp and CK1δ-mediated degradation of LZTS2 promotes HCC progression and metastasis by activating PI3K/AKT signaling. Collectively, our study not only illustrates the roles of LZTS2 in regulating HCC tumorigenesis and metastasis but also reveals a novel posttranslational modification of LZTS2 by β-Trcp and CK1δ, indicating that the β-Trcp/CK1δ/LZTS2/PI3K axis may be a novel oncogenic driver involved in HCC progression and metastasis.


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