We also found that in various human hepatic tissues, hnRNP A2/B1 was highly expressed in both human hepatitis virus positive liver tissues and human HCC tissues but not in normal liver tissues.
Moreover small interfering RNA against hnRNP A2/B1 suppressed telomerase activity, and immunohistochemical examination showed that the enhanced nuclear and cytoplasmic hnRNP A2/B1 expression in HCC was significantly associated with histological grade of tumor differentiation and microvascular invasion of HCC.
Using pharmacologic and siRNA approaches, we show that the autocrine or paracrine activation of the EGF receptor (EGFR)/mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway increases the IR-A:IR-B ratio in HCC cell lines, but not in normal hepatocytes, by upregulating the expression of the splicing factors CUGBP1, hnRNPH, hnRNPA1, hnRNPA2B1, and SF2/ASF.