scholarly journals The Role of Matrix Metalloproteinases in the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Scheau ◽  
Ioana Anca Badarau ◽  
Raluca Costache ◽  
Constantin Caruntu ◽  
Gratiela Livia Mihai ◽  
...  

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a transformation process mandatory for the local and distant progression of many malignant tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play significant roles in cellular regeneration, programmed death, angiogenesis, and many other essential tissular functions, involved in the normal development and also in pathological processes, such as the EMT. This paper reviews the roles of MMPs in the EMT involved in HCC invasion, as well as the ancillary roles that MMP cross-activation and tissue inhibitors play in modulating this process. While gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 are the MMPs commonly cited in the EMT of HCC, MMPs belonging to other classes have been proven to be involved in this process, favoring not only invasion and metastasis (MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-7, MMP-10, MMP-11, MMP-13, MMP-14, MMP-16, MMP-26, and MMP-28) but also angiogenesis (MMP-8 and MMP-10). There is also data suggesting that other MMPs with a suspected or demonstrated role in the EMT of other cancers may also have some degree of involvement in HCC. The auto- and cross-activation of MMPs may complicate this issue, as pinpointing the extent of implication of each MMP may be extremely difficult. The homeostasis between MMPs and their tissue inhibitors is essential in preventing tumor progression, and the disturbance of this stability is another entailed factor in the EMT of HCC, which is addressed herein.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiabin Yu ◽  
Li Yang ◽  
Hongting Lu

AbstractMalignant tumors are one of the fatal diseases that threaten children’s physical and mental health and affect their development. Research has shown that the occurrence and development of malignant tumors are associated with the abnormal expression and regulation of genes. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are noncoding RNAs that have a closed circular structure, with a relatively stable expression, and do not undergo exonuclease-mediated degradation readily. Recent studies have shown that circRNA plays an important role in the occurrence, metastasis, and invasion of solid malignant tumors (SMTs) in children. Thus, circRNA is being considered as a breakthrough in the treatment of SMTs in children. In this review, we describe the functions and mechanisms of circRNAs involved in SMTs in children oncogenesis, and summarize the roles of circRNAs in regulating cell proliferation, cell apoptotic death, the cell cycle, cell migrative and invasive ability, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cancer stem cells and drug resistance in SMTs in children. In addition, we also discuss the role of circRNAs in the early diagnosis, pathological grading, targeted therapy, and prognosis evaluation of common SMTs in children. CircRNAs are likely to provide a novel direction in therapy in SMTs of children.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Xia ◽  
Hao Zhang ◽  
Kequan Xu ◽  
Xiang Jiang ◽  
Meng Gao ◽  
...  

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. However, there still remains a lack of effective diagnostic and therapeutic targets for this disease. Increasing evidence demonstrates that RNA modifications play an important role in the progression of HCC, but the role of the N7-methylguanosine (m7G) methylation modification in HCC has not been properly evaluated. Thus, the goal of the present study was to investigate the function and mechanism of the m7G methyltransferase WD repeat domain 4 (WDR4) in HCC as well as its clinical relevance and potential value. We first verified the high expression of WDR4 in HCC and observed that upregulated WDR4 expression increased the m7G methylation level in HCC. WDR4 promoted HCC cell proliferation by inducing the G2/M cell cycle transition and inhibiting apoptosis in addition to enhancing metastasis and sorafenib resistance through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Furthermore, we observed that c-MYC (MYC) can activate WDR4 transcription and that WDR4 promotes CCNB1 mRNA stability and translation to enhance HCC progression. Mechanistically, we determined that WDR4 enhances CCNB1 translation by promoting the binding of EIF2A to CCNB1 mRNA. Furthermore, CCNB1 was observed to promote PI3K and AKT phosphorylation in HCC and reduce P53 protein expression by promoting P53 ubiquitination. In summary, we elucidated the MYC/WDR4/CCNB1 signalling pathway and its impact on PI3K/AKT and P53. Furthermore, the result showed that the m7G methyltransferase WDR4 is a tumour promoter in the development and progression of HCC and may act as a candidate therapeutic target in HCC treatment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 3968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Spugnini ◽  
Mariantonia Logozzi ◽  
Rossella Di Raimo ◽  
Davide Mizzoni ◽  
Stefano Fais

Metastatic diffusion is thought to be a multi-step phenomenon involving the release of cells from the primary tumor and their diffusion through the body. Currently, several hypotheses have been put forward in order to explain the origin of cancer metastasis, including epithelial–mesenchymal transition, mutagenesis of stem cells, and a facilitating role of macrophages, involving, for example, transformation or fusion hybridization with neoplastic cells. In this paradigm, tumor-secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes, play a pivotal role in cell communications, delivering a plethora of biomolecules including proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. For their natural role in shuttling molecules, EVs have been newly considered a part of the metastatic cascade. They have a prominent role in preparing the so-called “tumor niches” in target organs. However, recent evidence has pointed out an even more interesting role of tumor EVs, consisting in their ability to induce malignant transformation in resident mesenchymal stem cells. All in all, in this review, we discuss the multiple involvements of EVs in the metastatic cascade, and how we can exploit and manipulate EVs in order to reduce the metastatic spread of malignant tumors.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 1421-1421
Author(s):  
Min Soon Cho ◽  
Qianghua Hu ◽  
Rajesha Rupaimoole ◽  
Anil Sood ◽  
Vahid Afshar-Kharghan

Abstract We have shown that complement component 3 (C3) is expressed in malignant ovarian epithelial cells and enhances cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. C3 is secreted by cancer cells into the tumor microenvironment and promotes tumor growth through an autocrine loop. To understand the mechanism of upregulation of C3 expression in malignant epithelial cells, we studied the transcriptional regulation of C3, and found that TWIST1, a major regulator of EMT, binds to the C3 promoter and regulates C3 transcription. Knockdown of the TWIST1 gene reduced C3 mRNA, and TWIST1 overexpression increased C3 mRNA. TWIST1 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during normal development and in metastasis of malignant tumors. An important marker of EMT is a reduction in the surface expression of E-cadherin on cells facilitating migration and invasion of these cells. TWIST1 is a transcriptional repressor of E-cadherin; and because TWIST1 increases C3 expression, we investigated whether C3 is also a negative regulator of E-cadherin expression. We overexpressed C3 in ovarian cancer cells by stable transduction of lentivirus carrying C3 cDNA. Overexpression of C3 was associated with 32% reduction in the expression of E-cadherin resulting in enhanced migration ability of cells by 2.3 folds and invasiveness by 1.75 folds, as compared to control cells transduced with control lentivirus. To investigate whether TWIST1-induced reduction in E-cadherin is C3-mediated or not, we studied the effect of TWIST1 overexpression simultaneous with C3 knockdown in ovarian cancer cells. Overexpression of TWIST1 alone resulted in 70% reduction in E-cadherin mRNA and this was completely reversed after simultaneous C3 knockdown in these cells. To investigate the correlation between C3 and TWIST1 in vivo, we studied the co-expression of these two proteins in mouse embryos (physiologic EMT) and in malignant tumors (pathologic EMT). Given the role of EMT in embryogenesis we immunostained mouse embryos at different stages of development, using antibodies against TWIST1 or C3. Transverse section of 9.5-day post-coitum (9.5dpc) mouse embryos showed co-expression of TWIST1 and C3 in otocyst (ot) and hindbrain (hb) of neural crest. In the whole-mounted 11.5dpc mouse embryos, C3 and TWIST1 were co-expressed in limb buds. Given the role of EMT in malignancy, tumors induced in mice after intraperitoneal injection of murine ovarian cancer cells were resected and immunostained for C3 and TWIST1 proteins. TWIST1 and C3 co-localized at tumor edges, where EMT and tumor cells migration occur. Taken together, these data provide evidence that TWIST1 regulates C3 expression, and C3 promotes EMT through E-cadherin. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mennatallah Ghouraba ◽  
Razan Masad ◽  
Eric Mpingirika ◽  
Omnia Abdelraheem ◽  
Rached Zeghlache ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Baglieri ◽  
David Brenner ◽  
Tatiana Kisseleva

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most aggressive types of cancer and lacks effective therapeutic approaches. Most HCC develops in the setting of chronic liver injury, hepatic inflammation, and fibrosis. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key players in liver fibrogenesis and hepatocarcinogenesis, respectively. CAFs, which probably derive from HSCs, activate into extracellular matrix (ECM)-producing myofibroblasts and crosstalk with cancer cells to affect tumor growth and invasion. In this review, we describe the different components which form the HCC premalignant microenvironment (PME) and the tumor microenvironment (TME), focusing on the liver fibrosis process and the biology of CAFs. We will describe the CAF-dependent mechanisms which have been suggested to promote hepatocarcinogenesis, such as the alteration of ECM, CAF-dependent production of cytokines and angiogenic factors, CAF-dependent reduction of immuno-surveillance, and CAF-dependent promotion of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). New knowledge of the fibrosis process and the role of CAFs in HCC may pave the way for new therapeutic strategies for liver cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1098-1108
Author(s):  
Ziyu Zhu ◽  
Jiaxing Gong ◽  
Jianlu Kong ◽  
Ying Qian ◽  
Kejie Lu ◽  
...  

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common tumors worldwide and has one of the highest mortalities. The progression of OSCC is accompanied by changes in the levels of many genes. Iroquois homeobox 5 (IRX5), a novel protein involved in several embryonic developmental processes, has been found in recent years to play a significant role in regulating the growth of malignant tumors. However, its role and mechanism in OSCC are still unclear. In this study, we used nano-PCR to examine the levels of IRX5 in OSCC tissues. Through overexpression and knockdown experiments, we researched the role of IRX5 in regulating OSCC cell multiplication, metastasis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The results demonstrated that IRX5 expression is higher in OSCC tissues in contrast to adjacent tissues. Overexpression of IRX5 promotes the multiplication, metastasis, invasion, and EMT of OSCC cells. Additional bioinformatics analysis showed that miRNA-147 can target the 3’UTR end of IRX5 and negatively regulate its expression, and overexpression of miRNA-147 can weaken the cancer-promoting effect of IRX5. In conclusion, this study found that IRX5 plays a role in promoting cancer in OSCC, and IRX5 is also negatively regulated by miRNA-147.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiong Lei ◽  
Yahang Liang ◽  
Jian Chen ◽  
Shuai Xiao ◽  
Jian Lei ◽  
...  

Abstract Metastasis-associated recurrence is the main cause for the poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying HCC metastasis remain elusive. Though some data indicated the oncogenic role of Sorcin in tumors, the prognostic value and biological role of Sorcin in HCC is still unknown. In this study, it demonstrated that Sorcin expression levels were significantly upregulated in HCC tumor tissues compared with matched adjacent nontumorous liver tissues and normal liver tissues, and such expression level correlated with HCC metastasis. High Sorcin expression was significantly correlated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics such as multiple tumor nodules, high Edmondson-Steiner grade, microvascular invasion, advanced TNM stage and advanced BCLC stage (all P < 0.05). HCC patients with high Sorcin expression had both shorter survival and higher recurrence than those with low Sorcin expression (all P < 0.05). Sorcin expression was an independent and significant risk factor for survival and recurrence of HCC patients. Results of functional experiments showed that Sorcin could promote HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro, and facilitate HCC growth and metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, Sorcin exerted its role by activating extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway and promoted metastasis by facilitating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HCC.


Author(s):  
Yanhua Li ◽  
Xia Chen ◽  
Hong Lu

The gene solute carrier family 34 (sodium phosphate), member 2 (SLC34A2), is a member of the SLC34 family. Increasing evidence suggests that SLC34A2 is involved in the development of many human carcinomas. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unclear. Therefore, in this study we investigated the role of SLC34A2 in HCC and explored the underlying mechanism. We found that the expression of SLC34A2 is upregulated in HCC cell lines. Knockdown of SLC34A2 obviously inhibited HCC cell proliferation, migration/invasion, and the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype. Furthermore, knockdown of SLC34A2 significantly inhibited the expression of phosphorylated PI3K and AKT in HCC cells. Taken together, these results suggest that knockdown of SLC34A2 inhibits proliferation and migration by suppressing activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in HCC cells, and SLC34A2 may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC.


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