Taken together, we identified a novel IFITM3-p38/MAPK-MMP9 regulatory circuitry, the dysfunction of which drives invasive and metastatic character in HCC.
In vitro assays in the HCC cell line Bel7402 demonstrated that knockdown of HOTAIR lincRNA reduced cell proliferation and was associated with reductions in levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 and vascular endothelial growth factor protein, which are important for cell motility and metastasis.
Ectopic expression and depletion of miR-181b showed that miR-181b enhanced matrix metallopeptidases (MMP)2 and MMP9 activity and promoted growth, clonogenic survival, migration and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells that could be reversed by modulating TIMP3 level.
Recent studies have suggested a positive feedback loop between TGFβ1 and MMP-9 mediated by the PI3K signaling pathway that confers acquired invasion and metastasis in HCC via induction of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which grows into invasive carcinoma.
These data demonstrate that the PKC-dependent NF-kappaB activation is absolute for MMP-9 induction and that the PKC-dependent ERK activation devotes to increase the expression level of MMP-9, in HCC cells.
The expression levels of CTNNB1 and MMP9 decreased by knocked down XRCC5 which may promote the progression of HCC via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
The findings suggest that gelatinase B synthesized by cancer cells plays an important role in the growth and invasion of HCC by degrading surrounding extracellular matrices.
NCTD inhibited MMP-9 and u-PA expression through the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and NF-kappaB signaling pathway which serves as a powerful chemopreventive agent in HCC cell metastasis.
Although statistically not significant, hepatocellular carcinoma without cirrhosis showed a higher E-cadherin expression and a lower matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression than hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis, which could be partially responsible for the less aggressive behavior found in hepatocellular carcinoma without cirrhosis when compared with hepatocellular carcinoma with cirrhosis.
Functional experiments revealed that MTP18 promoted both the growth and metastasis of HCC cells by inducing the progression of cell cycle, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and production of MMP-9, and suppressing cell apoptosis.
Therefore, HBV may take the advantage of MMP-9 function to establish or maintain chronic infection.<b>IMPORTANCE</b> Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may cause chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Moreover, miR-888-5p also increased the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins which account for cell migration and invasion, and decreased the expression of p53 protein which further promoted malignance of HCC.
We found that expression of CD151 was positively related to metastatic potential of HCC cell lines, and modified cells with CD151(high) showed higher secretion of matrix metalloproteinase 9 and aggressiveness in vitro and higher metastatic ability in vivo.
Finally, Western blot results indicated that silencing FBXO17 might function through downregulating the expression of proteins in wnt/β-catenin pathway such as c-Myc, MMP-9, and MMP-2 while upregulating GSK-3β level, thereby promoting the malignant progression of HCC.
In addition, DLC1 down-regulated the expression of osteopontin and matrix metalloproteinase-9, which are highly up-regulated in most primary HCC with associated metastases.