Cellular retinol binding protein-1 inhibits cancer stemness via upregulating WIF1 to suppress Wnt/ß-catenin pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma.
BMC Cancer
; 21(1): 1224, 2021 Nov 14.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34775955
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
CRBP-1, a cytosolic chaperone of vitamin A, is identified in a serious number of cancers; however, its biological role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) needs to be further explored. The aim of our present study is to explore the roles and mechanisms of CRBP-1 in regulating liver cancer by using in vitro and in vivo biology approaches.METHODS:
The expression level of CRBP-1 was detected using immunohistochemistry in HCC and matching adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues. Following established stable CRBP-1 overexpressed HCC cell lines, the cell growth and tumorigenicity were investigated both in vitro and in vivo. Intracellular retinoic acid was quantified by ELISA. The relationship between CRBP-1 and WIF1 was validated by using dual luciferase and ChIP analyses.RESULTS:
The low expression of CRBP-1 was observed in HCC tissues compared to the normal liver tissues, while high CRBP-1 expression correlated with clinicopathological characteristics and increased overall survival in HCC patients. Overexpression of CRBP-1 significantly inhibited cell growth and tumorigenicity both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, overexpression of CRBP-1 suppressed tumorsphere formation and cancer stemness related genes expression in HCC. Mechanically, CRBP-1 inhibited Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway to suppress cancer cell stemness of HCC. Furthermore, our results revealed that CRBP-1 could increase the intracellular levels of retinoic acid, which induced the activation of RARs/RXRs leading to the transcriptional expression of WIF1, a secreted antagonist of the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway, by physically interacting with the region on WIF1 promoter.CONCLUSION:
Our findings reveal that CRBP-1 is a crucial player in the initiation and progression of HCC, which provide a novel independent prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Neoplastic Stem Cells
/
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular
/
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
/
Retinol-Binding Proteins, Cellular
/
Wnt Signaling Pathway
/
Liver Neoplasms
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
BMC Cancer
Journal subject:
NEOPLASIAS
Year:
2021
Type:
Article