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Demir AB, Benvenuto D, Karacicek B, Erac Y, Spoto S, Angeletti S, Ciccozzi M, Tosun M. Implications of Possible HBV-Driven Regulation of Gene Expression in Stem Cell-like Subpopulation of Huh-7 Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Line. J Pers Med 2022; 12:jpm12122065. [PMID: 36556285 PMCID: PMC9786676 DOI: 10.3390/jpm12122065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Elevated levels of STIM1, an endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ sensor/buffering protein, appear to be correlated with poor cancer prognosis in which microRNAs are also known to play critical roles. The purpose of this study is to investigate possible HBV origins of specific microRNAs we identified in a stem cell-like subpopulation of Huh-7 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines with enhanced STIM1 and/or Orai1 expression that mimicked poor cancer prognosis. Computational strategies including phylogenetic analyses were performed on miRNome data we obtained from an EpCAM- and CD133-expressing Huh-7 HCC stem cell-like subpopulation with enhanced STIM1 and/or Orai1 expression originally cultured in the present work. Results revealed two putative regions in the HBV genome based on the apparent clustering pattern of stem loop sequences of microRNAs, including miR3653. Reciprocal analysis of these regions identified critical human genes, of which their transcripts are among the predicted targets of miR3653, which was increased significantly by STIM1 or Orai1 enhancement. Briefly, this study provides phylogenetic evidence for a possible HBV-driven epigenetic remodeling that alters the expression pattern of Ca2+ homeostasis-associated genes in STIM1- or Orai1 overexpressing liver cancer stem-like cells for a possible mutual survival outcome. A novel region on HBV-X protein may affect liver carcinogenesis in a genotype-dependent manner. Therefore, detection of the viral genotype would have a clinical impact on prognosis of HBV-induced liver cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayse Banu Demir
- Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir University of Economics, 35330 Izmir, Turkey
| | - Domenico Benvenuto
- Faculty of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome (UCBM), 200 Rome, Italy
| | - Bilge Karacicek
- Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG), Dokuz Eylul University Health Campus, 35340 Izmir, Turkey
| | - Yasemin Erac
- Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, 35100 Izmir, Turkey
| | - Silvia Spoto
- Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medicine Division, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico, 200 Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Angeletti
- Clinical Laboratory Science Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome (UCBM), 200 Rome, Italy
- Clinical Laboratory Research Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico Via Alvaro del Portillo, 200 Rome, Italy
- Correspondence: (S.A.); (M.T.); Tel.: +39-06225411461 (S.A.); +90-2324889843 (M.T.)
| | - Massimo Ciccozzi
- Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome (UCBM), 200 Rome, Italy
| | - Metiner Tosun
- Department of Medical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir University of Economics, 35330 Izmir, Turkey
- Correspondence: (S.A.); (M.T.); Tel.: +39-06225411461 (S.A.); +90-2324889843 (M.T.)
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Liver Cancer Cell Lines Treated with Doxorubicin under Normoxia and Hypoxia: Cell Viability and Oncologic Protein Profile. Cancers (Basel) 2019; 11:cancers11071024. [PMID: 31330834 PMCID: PMC6678640 DOI: 10.3390/cancers11071024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2019] [Revised: 07/09/2019] [Accepted: 07/17/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is often treated with a combination of doxorubicin and embolization, exposing it to high concentrations and hypoxia. Separation of the possible synergistic effect of this combination in vivo is difficult. Here, treatment with doxorubicin, under hypoxia or normoxia in different liver cancer cell lines, was evaluated. Liver cancer cells HepG2, Huh7, and SNU449 were exposed to doxorubicin, hypoxia, or doxorubicin + hypoxia with different duration. Treatment response was evaluated with cell viability, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and summarized with IC50. The protein profile of a 92-biomarker panel was analyzed on cells treated with 0 or 0.1 µM doxorubicin during 6 or 72 h, under normoxia or hypoxia. Hypoxia decreased viability of HepG2 and SNU499. HepG2 was least and SNU449 most tolerant to doxorubicin treatment. Cytotoxicity of doxorubicin increased over time in HepG2 and Huh7. The combination of doxorubicin + hypoxia affected the cells differently. Normalized protein expression was lower for HepG2 than Huh7 and SNU449. Hierarchical clustering separated HepG2 from Huh7 and SNU449. These three commonly used cell lines have critically different responses to chemotherapy and hypoxia, which was reflected in their different protein expression profile. These different responses suggest that tumors can respond differently to the combination of local chemotherapy and embolization.
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Zhao Y, Cai H, Zhou P, Lin S, Pan Y, Liang X. Protective effect of ulinastatin on hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury through autophagy activation in Chang liver cells. J Cell Biochem 2019; 120:14960-14970. [PMID: 31020701 DOI: 10.1002/jcb.28758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2018] [Revised: 12/30/2018] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of ulinastatin in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion progress, involving its association with the role of autophagy during hypoxia-induced hypoxia-reoxygenation injury in vitro. The model of hepatic hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury in Chang liver cells was established. After treatment with ulinastatin at the doses of 10, 100, and 1000 U/mL in H/R liver cells, the cell proliferation was significantly increased, morphological damage was reduced, and the cell apoptosis rate was decreased. The protein levels of antiapoptotic myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) and caspase-3 were upregulated, and C-PARP protein was downregulated. Meanwhile, ulinastatin led to an increase in the messenger RNA and protein levels of autophagy maker Unc-like kinase 1 (ULK1), Beclin-1, and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC-3) and a decrease in p62. Then, 3-methyladenine (3-MA), an inhibitor of autophagy, made morphological damage and cell apoptosis worsen in ulinastatin-treated H/R liver cells. And the expression levels of caspase-3, C-PARP, p62, Beclin-1, and LC-3, proteins were also reversed by 3-MA. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ulinastatin inhibited the hepatic H/R injury in Chang liver cells, which was, to some extent, related to the autophagy activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiming Zhao
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Huabo Cai
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Pengmin Zhou
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Shengping Lin
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yun Pan
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiao Liang
- Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhe Jiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
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Salpini R, Surdo M, Cortese MF, Palumbo GA, Carioti L, Cappiello G, Spanò A, Trimoulet P, Fleury H, Vecchiet J, Pasquazzi C, Mirabelli C, Scutari R, Sacco A, Alkhatib M, Missale G, Francioso S, Sarmati L, Andreoni M, Angelico M, Ceccherini-Silberstein F, Levrero M, Perno CF, Belloni L, Svicher V. The novel HBx mutation F30V correlates with hepatocellular carcinoma in vivo, reduces hepatitis B virus replicative efficiency and enhances anti-apoptotic activity of HBx N terminus in vitro. Clin Microbiol Infect 2018; 25:906.e1-906.e7. [PMID: 30472417 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2018.11.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2018] [Revised: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate HBx genetic elements correlated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) -related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their impact on (a) HBV replicative efficiency, (b) HBx binding to circular covalently closed DNA (cccDNA), (c) apoptosis and cell-cycle progression, and (d) HBx structural stability. METHODS This study included 123 individuals chronically infected with HBV: 27 with HCC (77.9% (21/27) genotype D; 22.1% (6/27) genotype A) and 96 without HCC (75% (72/96) genotype D; 25.0% (24/96) genotype A). HepG2 cells were transfected by wild-type or mutated linear HBV genome to assess pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA) and core-associated HBV-DNA levels, HBx-binding onto cccDNA by chromatin immunoprecipitation-based quantitative assay, and rate of apoptosis and cell-cycle progression by cytofluorimetry. RESULTS F30V was the only HBx mutation correlated with HCC (18.5% (5/27) in HCC patients versus 1.0% (1/96) in non-HCC patients, p 0.002); a result confirmed by multivariate analysis. In vitro, F30V determined a 40% and 60% reduction in pgRNA and core-associated HBV-DNA compared with wild-type (p <0.05), in parallel with a significant decrease of HBx binding to cccDNA and decreased HBx stability. F30V also decreased the percentage of apoptotic cells compared with wild-type (14.8 ± 6.8% versus 19.1 ± 10.1%, p <0.01, without affecting cell-cycle progression) and increased the probability of HBx-Ser-31 being phosphorylated by PI3K-Akt kinase (known to promote anti-apoptotic activity). CONCLUSIONS F30V was closely correlated with HBV-induced HCC in vivo, reduced HBV replicative efficiency by affecting HBx-binding to cccDNA and increased anti-apoptotic HBx activity in vitro. This suggests that F30V (although hampering HBV's replicative capacity) may promote hepatocyte survival, so potentially allowing persistent production of viral progeny and initiating HBV-driven hepatocarcinogenesis. Investigation of viral genetic markers associated with HCC is crucial to identify those patients at higher risk of HCC, who hence deserve intensive liver monitoring and/or early anti-HBV therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Salpini
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy
| | - M Surdo
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy
| | - M F Cortese
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy; Liver Pathology Unit, Departments of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - G A Palumbo
- Department of Internal Medicine-DMISM, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - L Carioti
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy
| | | | - A Spanò
- 'S. Pertini Hospital', Rome, Italy
| | | | - H Fleury
- Hôpital Pellegrin Tripode, Bordeaux, France
| | | | | | - C Mirabelli
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy; University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - R Scutari
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy
| | - A Sacco
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy
| | - M Alkhatib
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy
| | | | - S Francioso
- Hepatology Unit, Tor Vergata University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - L Sarmati
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Tor Vergata University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - M Andreoni
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Tor Vergata University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | - M Angelico
- Hepatology Unit, Tor Vergata University Hospital, Rome, Italy
| | | | - M Levrero
- Department of Internal Medicine-DMISM, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; INSERM U1052 - Cancer Research Centre of Lyon, 69008 Lyon, France
| | - C F Perno
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy; Haematology and Oncohaematology, University of Milan, Italy
| | - L Belloni
- Department of Internal Medicine-DMISM, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; Centre for Life NanoSciences, IIT-Sapienza, Rome, Italy
| | - V Svicher
- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Rome, Italy.
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Cui H, Li QL, Chen J, Na Q, Liu CX. Hepatitis B virus X protein modifies invasion, proliferation and the inflammatory response in an HTR-8/SVneo cell model. Oncol Rep 2015; 34:2090-8. [PMID: 26251950 DOI: 10.3892/or.2015.4172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2015] [Accepted: 07/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Mother-to-infant transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) can occur as an intrauterine, intrapartum or postpartum infection. In the present study, we induced a multifunctional viral regulator of HBV gene products, HBx, and its different fragments to overexpress in a tropho-blast cell line, HTR-8/SVneo. We then identified the biological effects of HBx on HTR-8/SVneo cells. Our results indicated that HBx inhibited apoptosis and induced invasion as detected using Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) double staining and Transwell assay, respectively. Furthermore, we carried out western blot analysis to analyze the possible related signaling pathway. We confirmed that HBx and its different fragments can activate the Smad signaling pathway, accompanied by downregulation of E-cadherin, and upregulation of vimentin and N-cadherin. TGF‑β1 was used as a control to activate the Smad signaling pathway in HTR-8/SVneo cells. HBx activated the Smad signaling pathway in the HTR-8/SVneo cells. After the signaling pathway was activated, reduced apoptosis, higher invasive ability and enhanced inflammatory response were observed in the HTR-8/SVneo cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong Cui
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China
| | - Qiu-Ling Li
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China
| | - Jing Chen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China
| | - Quan Na
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China
| | - Cai-Xia Liu
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110004, P.R. China
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Elpek G&O. Angiogenesis and liver fibrosis. World J Hepatol 2015; 7:377-391. [PMID: 25848465 PMCID: PMC4381164 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i3.377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2014] [Revised: 11/27/2014] [Accepted: 12/01/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent data indicate that hepatic angiogenesis, regardless of the etiology, takes place in chronic liver diseases (CLDs) that are characterized by inflammation and progressive fibrosis. Because anti-angiogenic therapy has been found to be efficient in the prevention of fibrosis in experimental models of CLDs, it is suggested that blocking angiogenesis could be a promising therapeutic option in patients with advanced fibrosis. Consequently, efforts are being directed to revealing the mechanisms involved in angiogenesis during the progression of liver fibrosis. Literature evidences indicate that hepatic angiogenesis and fibrosis are closely related in both clinical and experimental conditions. Hypoxia is a major inducer of angiogenesis together with inflammation and hepatic stellate cells. These profibrogenic cells stand at the intersection between inflammation, angiogenesis and fibrosis and play also a pivotal role in angiogenesis. This review mainly focuses to give a clear view on the relevant features that communicate angiogenesis with progression of fibrosis in CLDs towards the-end point of cirrhosis that may be translated into future therapies. The pathogenesis of hepatic angiogenesis associated with portal hypertension, viral hepatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic liver disease are also discussed to emphasize the various mechanisms involved in angiogenesis during liver fibrogenesis.
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