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Cripto-1 contributes to stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma by stabilizing Dishevelled-3 and activating Wnt/?-catenin pathway.

ABSTRACT: Identification and characterization of functional molecular targets conferring stemness properties in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) offers crucial insights to overcome the major hurdles of tumor recurrence, metastasis and chemoresistance in clinical management. In the current study, we investigated the significance of Cripto-1 in contributing to HCC stemness. Cripto-1 was upregulated in the sorafenib-resistant clones derived from HCC cell lines and patient-derived xenograft that we previously developed, suggesting an association between Cripto-1 and stemness. By in vitro experiments, Cripto-1 fostered cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. It also enhanced self-renewal ability and conferred chemoresistance of HCC cells. Consistently, silencing of Cripto-1 suppressed in vivo tumorigenicity on serial transplantation. On the downstream signaling mechanism, expression of major components of Wnt/?-catenin pathway ?-catenin, AXIN2, and C-MYC, accompanied by ?-catenin activity was reduced upon Cripto-1 knockdown. The suppressive effects on stemness properties with Cripto-1 knockdown in vitro and in vivo were partially rescued by forced expression of constitutively active ?-catenin. Further elucidation revealed the binding of Cripto-1 to Frizzled-7 (FZD7), low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) and Dishevelled-3 (DVL3) of the Wnt/?-catenin pathway and stabilized DVL3 protein. Analyses with clinical samples validated Cripto-1 overexpression in HCC tissues, as well as a positive correlation between Cripto-1 and AXIN2 expressions. High Cripto-1 level in tumor was associated with poorer disease-free survival of HCC patients. Taken together, Cripto-1 binds to FZD7/LRP6 and DVL3, stabilizes DVL3 expression and activates the Wnt/?-catenin signaling cascade to confer stemness in HCC. Our study findings substantiated the role of Cripto-1 in determining stemness phenotypes of HCC and mechanistically in modulating the Wnt/?-catenin signaling cascade, one of the most frequently deregulated pathways in liver cancer.

SUBMITTER: Lo RC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6113239 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cripto-1 contributes to stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma by stabilizing Dishevelled-3 and activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Lo Regina Cheuk-Lam RC Leung Carmen Oi-Ning CO Chan Kristy Kwan-Shuen KK Ho Daniel Wai-Hung DW Wong Chun-Ming CM Lee Terence Kin-Wah TK Ng Irene Oi-Lin IO

Cell death and differentiation 20180214 8

Identification and characterization of functional molecular targets conferring stemness properties in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) offers crucial insights to overcome the major hurdles of tumor recurrence, metastasis and chemoresistance in clinical management. In the current study, we investigated the significance of Cripto-1 in contributing to HCC stemness. Cripto-1 was upregulated in the sorafenib-resistant clones derived from HCC cell lines and patient-derived xenograft that we previously d ...[more]

PMID: 29445127

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an aggressive malignant disease with poor prognosis. Recent advances suggest the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) within liver cancer, which are considered to be responsible for tumor relapse, metastasis, and chemoresistance. However, novel therapeutic approaches for eradicating CSCs are yet to be established. Here, we aimed to identify the role of glutaminase 1 (GLS1) in stemness, and the feasibility that GLS1 serves as a therapeutic target for elimination CSCs as well as the possible mechanism. METHODS:Publicly-available data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) was mined to unearth the association between GLS1 and stemness phenotype. Using big data, human tissues and multiple cell lines, we gained a general picture of GLS1 expression in HCC progression. We generated stable cell lines by lentiviral-mediated overexpression or CRISPR/Cas9-based knockout. Sphere formation assays and colony formation assays were employed to analyze the relationship between GLS1 and stemness. A series of bioinformatics analyses and molecular experiments including qRT-PCR, immunoblotting, flow cytometry, and immunofluorescence were employed to investigate the role of GLS1 in regulating stemness in vitro and in vivo. FINDINGS:We observed GLS1 (both KGA and GAC isoform) is highly expressed in HCC, and that high expression of GAC predicts a poor prognosis. GLS1 is exclusively expressed in the mitochondrial matrix. Upregulation of GLS1 is positively associated with advanced clinicopathological features and stemness phenotype. Targeting GLS1 reduced the expression of stemness-related genes and suppressed CSC properties in vitro. We further found GLS1 regulates stemness properties via ROS/Wnt/?-catenin signaling and that GLS1 knockout inhibits tumorigenicity in vivo. INTERPRETATION:Targeting GLS1 attenuates stemness properties in HCC by increasing ROS accumulation and suppressing Wnt/?-catenin pathway, which implied that GLS1 could serve as a therapeutic target for elimination of CSCs.

Dataset Information

Cripto-1 contributes to stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma by stabilizing Dishevelled-3 and activating Wnt/?-catenin pathway.

Publications

Cripto-1 contributes to stemness in hepatocellular carcinoma by stabilizing Dishevelled-3 and activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

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