Haplotype analysis on correlation between transcription factor 7-like 2 gene polymorphism and breast cancer risk

Transcription factor 7 like 2 promotes metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma via NEDD9-mediated activation of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive system, and the exact mechanism of HCC is still unclear. Transcription factor 7 like 2 (TCF7L2) plays a pivotal role in cell proliferation and stemness maintenance. However, the exact mechanism of TCF7L2 in HCC remains unclear.

METHODS

Clinical samples and public databases were used to analyze the expression and prognosis of TCF7L2 in HCC. The function of TCF7L2 in HCC was studied in vitro and in vivo. ChIP and luciferase assays were used to explore the molecular mechanism of TCF7L2. The relationship between TCF7L2 and NEDD9 was verified in HCC clinical samples by tissue microarrays.

RESULTS

The expression of TCF7L2 was upregulated in HCC, and high expression of TCF7L2 was associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients. Overexpression of TCF7L2 promoted the metastasis of HCC in vitro and in vivo, while Knockdown of TCF7L2 showed the opposite effect. Mechanically, TCF7L2 activated neural precursor cell expressed developmentally downregulated protein 9 (NEDD9) transcription by binding to the -1522/-1509 site of the NEDD9 promoter region, thereby increasing the phosphorylation levels of AKT and mTOR. The combination of TCF7L2 and NEDD9 could distinguish the survival of HCC patients.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated that TCF7L2 promotes HCC metastasis by activating AKT/mTOR pathway in a NEDD9-dependent manner, suggesting that potential of TCF7L2 and NEDD9 as prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for HCC.

TCF7L2 promotes anoikis resistance and metastasis of gastric cancer by transcriptionally activating PLAUR

Gastric cancer (GC) is the most common gastrointestinal malignant tumor, and distant metastasis is a critical factor in the prognosis of patients with GC. Understanding the mechanism of GC metastasis will help improve patient prognosis. Studies have confirmed that urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (PLAUR) promotes GC metastasis; however, its relationship with anoikis resistance and associated mechanisms remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that PLAUR promotes the anoikis resistance and metastasis of GC cells and identified transcription Factor 7 Like 2 (TCF7L2) as an important transcriptional regulator of PLAUR. We also revealed that TCF7L2 is highly expressed in GC and promotes the anoikis resistance and metastasis of GC cells. Moreover, we found that TCF7L2 transcription activates PLAUR. Finally, we confirmed that TCF7L2 is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis of patients with GC. Our results show that TCF7L2 and PLAUR are candidate targets for developing therapeutic strategies for GC metastasis.