Overexpression of galectin-4 promotes cell growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

ABSTRACT: Galectin-4 is a member of multifunctional galactoside-binding lectin family with various biological functions, including tumor cells proliferation, cancer progression, cell adhesion, and tumor metastasis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the putative function of galectin-4 in tumor progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and explore the possible mechanisms of galectin-4 related biological pathway. The result showed that the galectin-4 was significantly up-regulated in HCC tissues/cell lines compared to matched peritumor tissues/a normal liver cell line, respectively. Furthermore, overexpressing galectin-4 in HCCLM3 cells led to promotion of cell proliferation and inhibition of cell apoptosis via up-regulation of Cyclin D1, down-regulation of p21 and decreased pro-apoptotic Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, But knockdown of galectin-4 reversed these properties. Furthermore, galectin-4 could promote cell-cell adhesion via stabilizing the adherens junction complexes. These observations was further validated in the xenograft animal model. Taken together, galectin-4 plays an important role in HCC progression.

SUBMITTER: Chen C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6965780 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature