Exosomal Transfer of Vasorin Expressed in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells Promotes Migration of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells

Vasorin (VASN) is a type I transmembrane protein that plays important roles in tumor development and vasculogenesis. In this paper, we showed that VASN could be a key mediator of communication between tumor cells and endothelial cells. We confirmed for the first time that HepG2-derived VASN can be transferred to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) via receptor mediated endocytosis of exosomes, at least in part through HSPGs. The HepG2-derived VASN containing exosomes promote migration of recipient HUVECs cells. Our results identify a novel pathway by which a functional protein expressed in tumor cells affects the biological fate of endothelial cells via exosomes.     

Long Non-coding RNA HOXA10-AS Promotes Invasion and Migration of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Some studies have showed that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOXA10-AS acts as an oncogene and regulates the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. However, its mechanism in the invasion and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells is unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression of HOXA10-AS in HCC tissues and its clinical significance, detect the influence of HOXA10-AS on the invasion and migration of HCC cells, and explore the mechanism of HOXA10-AS in promoting the invasion and migration of HCC cells. The results of quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that the expression of HOXA10-AS was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues compared with the adjacent non-HCC tissues. Age and gender did not show significant correlation with HOXA10-AS expression, while tumor size, lymphatic metastasis and distant metastasis showed significant correlation with HOXA10-AS expression. Meanwhile, the expression of HOXA10-AS in HCC cells was higher than that in normal liver cells. After interfering with HOXA10-AS in HCC cell lines HepG2 and QGY7701, Transwell invasion and scratch experiments showed that the invasion and migration ability of HOXA10-AS cells in the HOXA10-AS group was significantly lower than that in the control group. Western blotting results showed that the expression levels of vimentin and N-cadherin were significantly lower than those of the control group, while the E-cadherin expression was significantly increased. The TGFβ1/Smads signaling pathway was inhibited after HOXA10-AS interference. In summary, HOXA10-AS promotes the invasion and migration of HCC cells by the TGFβ1/Smads signaling pathway.     

p16在HBsAg和HBx转基因小鼠肝脏肿瘤中的表达

目的:探讨p16基因在由乙型肝炎病毒基因整合引起的小鼠肝细胞癌发生发展中的表达变化规律。方法:以乙肝病毒表面抗原基因(HBsAg)及X基因(HBx)定位整合转基因小鼠及对照小鼠的肝脏组织为标本,利用North-ern印迹、Western印迹及免疫组织化学检测p16在乙肝病毒基因定位整合转基因小鼠肝脏正常组织与肿瘤组织中的差异表达。结果:p16主要在小鼠胚胎期的肝脏中表达,在新生小鼠和成年小鼠的肝脏组织中几乎检测不到其表达;在HBsAg转基因小鼠和HBx转基因小鼠的肝脏肿瘤中,p16的表达明显升高。结论:p16基因在HBsAg或HBx诱导的肝细胞癌发生过程中被重新激活,也许发挥重要的作用。     

RNA干扰技术体外抑制肝星状细胞表皮形态发生素表达及其对肝癌细胞迁移能力的影响

肿瘤微环境中肝星状细胞能够影响肝癌细胞的生物学行为.在肝脏发育过程中,肝星状细胞通过表皮形态发生素(epimorphin,EPM,syntaxin2)与肝干细胞接触而促进肝干细胞的功能性分化.EPM在溃疡性结肠炎、间质性肺炎以及结肠癌中也发挥了重要的作用.发现肝细胞癌(HCC)细胞能够促使星状细胞EPM表达上调.为了研究肝星状细胞的EPM对于肝癌可能的作用,构建了针对EPM基因表达的shRNA干扰载体,并将质粒转染肝星状细胞,获得了两株携带该干扰片段的细胞系.RT-PCR与Westernblot检测结果表明,转基因干扰星状细胞系EPMmRNA和蛋白质表达量明显降低.之后,使用转基因细胞系的条件培养基对于肿瘤细胞进行侵袭能力的检测,并对星状细胞与肝癌细胞三维共培养,证明EPM干涉后肝星状细胞促进肿瘤细胞迁移的能力降低.结果表明通过RNAi可稳定干扰人肝星状细胞EPM基因的表达,并且EPM能够促进肝癌细胞的转移.     

Hsa_circ_0000745对肝癌细胞增殖、侵袭、迁移的作用及其机制

该文主要研究环状RNA hsa_circ_0000745对肝癌细胞的促肿瘤作用及其相关作用机制.首先,采用实时荧光定量PCR(quantitative real-time PCR,qRT-PCR)方法检测不同肝癌细胞中环状RNA hsa_circ_0000745的表达;其次,利用siRNA干扰技术敲低HepG2细胞中的...     

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells Deteriorate the Biophysical Properties of Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells and induce antigen-specific immune responses in the organism. The dysfunction of DCs has been implicated in tumor-bearing host. In order to elucidate the effects of tumor microenvironment on the functions of DCs from interdisciplinary aspects, we characterized the biophysical properties of DCs co-cultured with hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HCC). The results showed that the biophysical characteristics of immature and mature DCs were severely impaired by HCC compared with those under normal conditions, including the increased osmotic fragilities, decreased cell membrane fluidities, increased membrane viscoelastic properties, dysfunction and increased expression of cytoskeleton protein F-actin, as well as the deteriorated transendothelium migration. The impaired biophysical properties of DCs may be one of many aspects of the immune escape mechanisms of tumors. These results are clinically and instructionally significant with regard to how to enhance efficiency of the anti-tumor therapy based on DCs. Zhu Zeng and Weijuan Yao contributed equally to this work.     

原发性肝癌染色体8p、16q 遗传变异的研究

目的:分析人肝癌(HCC)组织中染色体8p、16q部分基因及染色体片段的遗传变异及与临床病理关系,初步筛选HCC相关的抑癌基因。方法:应用聚合酶链反应-变性聚丙烯酰胺凝胶-银染法分析45例HCC组织标本中染色体8p和16q的杂合性丢失(LOH)及微卫星不稳定性(MSI)。结果:发生LOH的总频率为68.89%(31/45),其中D16S511位点的发生LOH率最高为53.33%(24/45),其次是D8S261(39.02%,16/41)和D8S499(34.88%,15/43)。MSI出现的总频率为11.11%(5/45),出现在三个微卫星位点(D8S261、D8S499及D16S511)上。结论:染色体16q23、8p22-21.3及8p12区域的LOH发生频率高,其可能存在与HCC发生发展相关的新的抑癌基因,特定位点的遗传变异可能与HBV感染、临床病理恶性程度等预后因素相关。     

原发性肝癌染色体8p、16q遗传变异的研究

目的：分析人肝癌（HCC）组织中染色体8p、16q部分基因及染色体片段的遗传变异及与临床病理关系,初步筛选HCC相关的抑癌基因。方法：应用聚合酶链反应-变性聚丙烯酰胺凝胶-银染法分析45例HCC组织标本中染色体8p和16q的杂合性丢失（LOH）及微卫星不稳定性（MSI）。结果：发生LOH的总频率为68.89%（31/45）,其中D16S511位点的发生LOH率最高为53.33%（24/45）,其次是D8S261（39.02%,16/41）和D8S499（34.88%,15/43）。MSI出现的总频率为11.11%（5/45）,出现在三个微卫星位点（D8S261、D8S499及D16S511）上。结论：染色体16q23、8p22-21.3及8p12区域的LOH发生频率高,其可能存在与HCC发生发展相关的新的抑癌基因,特定位点的遗传变异可能与HBV感染、临床病理恶性程度等预后因素相关。     

Diversity of Gene Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Understanding tumor diversity has been a long-lasting and challenging question for researchers in the field of cancer heterogeneity or tumor evolution. Studies have reported that compared to normal cells, there is a higher genetic diversity in tumor cells, while higher genetic diversity is associated with higher progression risks of tumor. We thus hypothesized that tumor diversity also holds true at the gene expression level. To test this hypothesis, we used t-test to compare the means of Simpson's diversity index for gene expression(SDIG) between tumor and non-tumor samples.We found that the mean SDIG in tumor tissues is significantly higher than that in the non-tumor or normal tissues(P 0.05) for most datasets. We also combined microarrays and next-generation sequencing data for validation. This cross-platform and cross-experimental validation greatly increased the reliability of our results.     

利用RNA干扰抑制人肝癌细胞中核因子-kB p65基因的表达

目的:用小干扰RNA(siRNA)抑制核因子-KB(NF-kB)p65基因在人肝细胞癌细胞中的表达.方法:从p65的cDNA序列中挑选3个RNA干扰靶位点,用体外转录法制备siRNA,以萤光素酶基因的siRNA为对照,分别转染Hep3B和SMMC-7721细胞,用逆转录半定量PCR和免疫印迹检测siRNA对p65基因表达的抑制效率.结果:3条siRNA对p65基因的表达都有抑制作用,其中2条siRNA的抑制作用更为显著,最高抑制效率约为70%.结论:制备的p65-siRNA可用于研究NF-KB在肝细胞癌发生发展中的作用.     

Low-Dose Curcumin Stimulates Proliferation,Migration and Phagocytic Activity of Olfactory Ensheathing Cells

One of the promising strategies for neural repair therapies is the transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) which are the glial cells of the olfactory system. We evaluated the effects of curcumin on the behaviour of mouse OECs to determine if it could be of use to further enhance the therapeutic potential of OECs. Curcumin, a natural polyphenol compound found in the spice turmeric, is known for its anti-cancer properties at doses over 10 µM, and often at 50 µM, and it exerts its effects on cancer cells in part by activation of MAP kinases. In contrast, we found that low-dose curcumin (0.5 µM) applied to OECs strikingly modulated the dynamic morphology, increased the rate of migration by up to 4-fold, and promoted significant proliferation of the OECs. Most dramatically, low-dose curcumin stimulated a 10-fold increase in the phagocytic activity of OECs. All of these potently stimulated behavioural characteristics of OECs are favourable for neural repair therapies. Importantly, low-dose curcumin gave a transient activation of p38 kinases, which is in contrast to the high dose curcumin effects on cancer cells in which these MAP kinases tend to undergo prolonged activation. Low-dose curcumin mediated effects on OECs demonstrate cell-type specific stimulation of p38 and ERK kinases. These results constitute the first evidence that low-dose curcumin can modulate the behaviour of olfactory glia into a phenotype potentially more favourable for neural repair and thereby improve the therapeutic use of OECs for neural repair therapies.     

Metformin Downregulates the Insulin/IGF-I Signaling Pathway and Inhibits Different Uterine Serous Carcinoma (USC) Cells Proliferation and Migration in p53-Dependent or -Independent Manners

Accumulating epidemiological evidence shows that obesity is associated with an increased risk of several types of adult cancers, including endometrial cancer. Chronic hyperinsulinemia, a typical hallmark of diabetes, is one of the leading factors responsible for the obesity-cancer connection. Numerous cellular and circulating factors are involved in the biochemical chain of events leading from hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance to increased cancer risk and, eventually, tumor development. Metformin is an oral anti-diabetic drug of the biguanide family used for treatment of type 2 diabetes. Recently, metformin was shown to exhibit anti-proliferative effects in ovarian and Type I endometrial cancer, although the mechanisms responsible for this non-classical metformin action remain unclear. The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) play a prominent role in cancer biology and their mechanisms of action are tightly interconnected with the insulin signaling pathways. Given the cross-talk between the insulin and IGF signaling pathways, the aim of this study was to examine the hypothesis that the anti-proliferative actions of metformin in uterine serous carcinoma (USC) are potentially mediated via suppression of the IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR) pathway. Our results show that metformin interacts with the IGF pathway, and induces apoptosis and inhibition of proliferation and migration of USC cell lines with both wild type and mutant p53. Taken together, our results suggest that metformin therapy could be a novel and attractive therapeutic approach for human USC, a highly aggressive variant of endometrial cancer.     

KMT6在肝癌细胞转移中的作用及对肝癌预后的影响

目的:探讨组蛋白赖氨酸甲基转移酶6(histone lysine methyltransferase 6,KMT6)对人肝癌细胞转移的调控作用及对肝癌患者预后的影响。方法:采用RNA干涉技术合成靶向KMT6的小干扰RNA(KMT6 siRNA)片段,瞬时转染至人肝癌细胞系Huh-7。随后,分别采用细胞黏附实验、细胞侵袭实验以及划痕迁移实验检测肝癌细胞的黏附、侵袭和迁移等肿瘤细胞转移能力。运用Oncomine数据库和cBioportal肝癌数据库分析KMT6的表达情况及对肝癌预后的影响。结果:靶向KMT6的小干扰RNA(KMT6 siRNA)片段瞬时转染至人肝癌细胞系Huh-7后,KMT6蛋白的表达显著下降,且黏附率、侵袭率和划痕修复率均显著降低(P<0.05)。Oncomine肝癌数据库分析表明肝癌组织KMT6的表达增加,cBioportal肝癌数据库分析表明KMT6基因改变与肝癌患者预后不良密切相关。结论:KMT6分子可促进肝癌细胞黏附、侵袭和迁移,其基因改变与肝癌患者预后不良显著相关。KMT6分子有望成为肝癌治疗的新靶点。     

人肝癌细胞与肝星形细胞裸鼠皮下共培养体系的建立

目的:建立裸鼠皮下共培养人肝癌细胞与肝星形细胞模型,观察人肝癌细胞与肝星形细胞间相互作用后超微结构的改变.方法:将16只裸鼠分为两组,肝癌细胞单独培养组和癌细胞与肝星形细胞共培养组,40天后将荷瘤组织切片行光镜及透射电镜观察.结果:肝癌细胞单独培养组中可观察到肝癌细胞的胞质液化及早期细胞凋亡现象,而共培养组中可见肝星形细胞时肝癌细胞的趋化现象,可观察到肝癌细胞结构完整且有增殖趋势.结论:裸鼠皮下荷瘤三维立体模型建立成功,该模型能够模拟肝癌微环境中肝癌细胞与肝星形细胞问的作用,为进一步研究肝癌细胞与肝星形细胞间的相互作用奠定了基础.     

Human Monoclonal Antibody Targeting the Heparan Sulfate Chains of Glypican-3 Inhibits HGF-Mediated Migration and Motility of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) participate in many processes related to tumor development, including tumorigenesis and metastasis. HSPGs contain one or more heparan sulfate (HS) chains that are covalently linked to a core protein. Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a cell surface-associated HSPG that is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). GPC3 is involved in Wnt3a-dependent HCC cell proliferation. Our previous study reported that HS20, a human monoclonal antibody targeting the HS chains on GPC3, inhibited Wnt3a/β-catenin activation. In the current study, we showed that the HS chains of GPC3 could mediate HCC cells’ migration and motility. Knocking down GPC3 or targeting the HS chains by HS20 inhibited HCC cell migration and motility. However, HS20 had no effect on GPC3 knockdown cells or GPC3 negative cells. In addition, an antibody that recognizes the core protein of GPC3 did not change the rate of cell motility. HCC cell migration and motility did not respond to either canonical or non-canonical Wnt induction, but did increase under hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) treatment. HS20-treated HCC cells exhibited less ability for HGF-mediated migration and motility. Furthermore, HS20 inhibited in vitro HCC spheroid formation and liver tumor growth in mice. GPC3 interacted with HGF; however, a mutant GPC3 lacking the HS chain showed less interaction with HGF. Blocking the HS chains on GPC3 with HS20 reduced c-Met activation in HGF-treated HCC cells and 3D-cultured spheroids. Taken together, our study suggests that GPC3 is involved in HCC cell migration and motility through HS chain-mediated cooperation with the HGF/Met pathway, showing how HS targeting has potential therapeutic implications for liver cancer.     

Targeted p21(WAF1/CIP1) Activation by RNAa Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

RNA activation (RNAa) is a mechanism of gene activation triggered by promoter-targeted small double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), also known as small activating RNA (saRNA). p21(WAF1/CIP1) (p21) is a putative tumor suppressor gene due to its role as a key negative regulator of the cell cycle and cell proliferation. It is frequently downregulated in cancer including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but is rarely mutated or deleted, making it an ideal target for RNAa-based overexpression to restore its tumor suppressor function. In the present study, we investigated the antigrowth effects of p21 RNAa in HCC cells. Transfection of a p21 saRNA (dsP21-322) into HepG2 and Hep3B cells significantly induced the expression of p21 at both the mRNA and protein levels, and inhibited cell proliferation and survival. Further analysis of dsP21-322 transfected cells revealed that dsP21-322 arrested the cell cycle at the G(0)/G(1) phase in HepG2 cells but at G(2)/M phase in Hep3B cells which lack functional p53 and Rb genes, and induced both early and late stage apoptosis by activating caspase 3 in both cell lines. These results demonstrated that RNAa of p21 has in vitro antigrowth effects on HCC cells via impeding cell cycle progression and inducing apoptotic cell death. This study suggests that targeted activation of p21 by RNAa may be explored as a novel therapy for the treatment of HCC.     

The P2Y2 Nucleotide Receptor Mediates the Proliferation and Migration of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells Induced by ATP

ATP is an abundant biochemical component of the tumor microenvironment and a physiologic ligand for the P2Y₂ nucleotide receptor (P2Y₂R). In this study, we investigated the effect of ATP on the cellular behavior of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and the role of P2Y₂R in ATP action and aimed to find a new therapeutic target against HCC. The experiments were performed in native isolated human HCC cells, normal hepatocytes, human HCC cell lines, and nude mice. We found that the mRNA and protein expression levels of P2Y₂R in native human HCC cells and the human HCC cell lines HepG2 and BEL-7404 were enhanced markedly compared with human normal hepatocytes and the normal hepatocyte line LO2, respectively. ATP induced intracellular Ca²⁺ increases in HCC cells and promoted the proliferation and migration of HCC cells and the growth of HCC in nude mice. The P2Y receptor antagonist suramin, P2Y₂R-specific shRNA, the store-operated calcium channel inhibitors 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) and 1-(β-3-(4-methoxy-phenyl) propoxyl-4-methoxyphenethyl)1H-imidazole-hydrochloride ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"SKF96365","term_id":"1156357400","term_text":"SKF96365"}}SKF96365), and stromal interaction molecule (STIM1)-specific shRNA inhibited the action of ATP on HCC cells. In conclusion, P2Y₂R mediated the action of ATP on the cellular behavior of HCC cells through store-operated calcium channel-mediated Ca²⁺ signaling, and targeting P2Y₂R may be a promising therapeutic strategy against human HCC.     

ACOT12-Dependent Alteration of Acetyl-CoA Drives Hepatocellular Carcinoma Metastasis by Epigenetic Induction of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

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