Hepatectomy promotes recurrence of liver cancer by enhancing IL-11-STAT3 signaling

Background

Patients undergoing surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are at risk of recurrence; however, the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood.

Methods

Through the analysis of gene expression profiles in tumour and matched normal tissues from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we identified differences in interleukin-11 (IL-11) expression. Further, we used genetic mouse, orthotopic tumour, chemically induced, and orthotopic allograft models to study the correlation between IL-11 and postsurgical recurrence. Additionally, we conducted a series of experiments, including histology and immunohistochemistry analysis, three-dimensional culture, immunofluorescence, western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and flow cytometry to investigate the role of IL-11-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling in HCC recurrence.

Findings

We demonstrate that IL-11 levels increase after surgery, triggering HCC outgrowth. Accordingly, pharmacological blocking of IL-11-STAT3 signaling in model systems significantly alleviates tumour cell proliferation and suppresses postsurgical recurrence of HCC tumours.

Interpretation

These data demonstrate that IL-11 has a central role in postsurgical HCC recurrence, and that inhibition of IL-11-STAT3 signaling is a potential therapeutic strategy to prevent recurrence.

Fund

Natural Science Foundation of China.

DANCR Promotes Metastasis and Proliferation in Bladder Cancer Cells by Enhancing IL-11-STAT3 Signaling and CCND1 Expression

The prognosis for patients with bladder cancer (BCa) with lymph node (LN) metastasis is poor, and it is not improved by current treatments. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the pathology of various tumors, including BCa. However, the role of Differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA (DANCR) in BCa LN metastasis remains unclear. In this study, we discover that DANCR was significantly upregulated in BCa tissues and cases with LN metastasis. DANCR expression was positively correlated with LN metastasis status, tumor stage, histological grade, and poor patient prognosis. Functional assays demonstrated that DANCR promoted BCa cell migration, invasion, and proliferation in vitro and enhanced tumor LN metastasis and growth in vivo. Mechanistic investigations revealed that DANCR activated IL-11-STAT3 signaling and increased cyclin D1 and PLAU expression via guiding leucine-rich pentatricopeptide repeat containing (LRPPRC) to stabilize mRNA. Moreover, oncogenesis facilitated by DANCR was attenuated by anti-IL-11 antibody or a STAT3 inhibitor (BP-1-102). In conclusion, our findings indicate that DANCR induces BCa LN metastasis and proliferation via an LRPPRC-mediated mRNA stabilization mechanism. DANCR may serve as a multi-potency target for clinical intervention in LN-metastatic BCa.