Post-transcriptional modulation of protein phosphatase PPP2CA and tumor suppressor PTEN by endogenous siRNA cleaved from hairpin within PTEN mRNA 3'UTR in human liver cells.

AIM: Increasing evidence shows that mRNAs exert regulatory function along with coding proteins. Recently we report that a hairpin within YAP mRNA 3'UTR can modulate the Hippo signaling pathway. PTEN is a tumor suppressor, and is mutated in human cancers. In this study we examined whether PTEN mRNA 3'UTR contained a hairpin structure that could regulate gene regulation at the post-transcriptional level. METHODS: The secondary structure of PTEN mRNA 3'UTR was analyzed using RNAdraw and RNAstructure. Function of hairpin structure derived from the PTEN mRNA 3'UTR was examined using luciferase reporter assay, RT-PCR and Western blotting. RNA-immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay was used to analyze the interaction between PTEN mRNA and microprocessor Drosha and DGCR8. Endogenous siRNA (esiRNA) derived from PTEN mRNA 3'UTR was identified by RT-PCR and rt-PCR, and its target genes were predicted using RNAhybrid. RESULTS: A bioinformatics analysis revealed that PTEN mRNA contained a hairpin structure (termed PTEN-sh) within 3'UTR, which markedly increased the reporter activities of AP-1 and NF-κB in 293T cells. Moreover, treatment with PTEN-sh (1 and 2 µg) dose-dependently inhibited the expression of PTEN in human liver L-O2 cells. RIP assay demonstrated that the microprocessor Drosha and DGCR8 was bound to PTEN-sh in L-O2 cells, leading to the cleavage of PTEN-sh from PTEN mRNA 3'UTR. In addition, microprocessor Dicer was involved in the processing of PTEN-sh. Interestingly, esiRNA (termed PTEN-sh-3p21) cleaved from PTEN-sh was identified in 293T cells and human liver tissues, which was found to target the mRNA 3'UTRs of protein phosphatase PPP2CA and PTEN in L-O2 cells. Treatment of L-O2 or Chang liver cells with PTEN-sh-3p21 (50, 100 nmol/L) promoted the cell proliferation in dose- and time-dependent manners. CONCLUSION: The endogenous siRNA (PTEN-sh-3p21) cleaved from PTEN-sh within PTEN mRNA 3'UTR modulates PPP2CA and PTEN at the post-transcriptional level in liver cells.

Hepatitis B virus X protein promotes human hepatoma cell growth via upregulation of transcription factor AP2α and sphingosine kinase 1.

AIM: Sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) is involved in various cellular functions, including cell growth, migration, apoptosis, cytoskeleton architecture and calcium homoeostasis, etc. As an oncogenic kinase, SPHK1 is associated with the development and progression of cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate whether SPHK1 was involved in hepatocarcinogenesis induced by the hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx). METHODS: The expression of SPHK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue and hepatoma cells were measured using qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis. HBx expression levels in hepatoma cells were modulated by transiently transfected with HBx or psi-HBx plasmids. The SPHK1 promoter activity was measured using luciferase reporter gene assay, and the interaction of the transcription factor AP2α with the SPHK1 promoter was studied with chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. The growth of hepatoma cells was evaluated in vitro using MTT and colony formation assays, and in a tumor xenograft model. RESULTS: A positive correlation was found between the mRNA levels of SPHK1 and HBx in 38 clinical HCC samples (r=+0.727, P<0.01). Moreover, the expression of SPHK1 was markedly increased in the liver cancer tissue of HBx-transgenic mice. Overexpressing HBx in normal liver cells LO2 and hepatoma cells HepG2 dose-dependently increased the expression of SPHK1, whereas silencing HBx in HBx-expressing hepatoma cells HepG2-X and HepG2.2.15 suppressed SPHK1 expression. Furthermore, overexpressing HBx in HepG2 cells dose-dependently increased the SPHK1 promoter activity, whereas silencing HBx in HepG2-X cells suppressed this activity. In HepG2-X cells, AP2α was found to directly interact with the SPHK1 promoter, and silencing AP2α suppressed the SPHK1 promoter activity and SPHK1 expression. Silencing HBx in HepG2-X cells abolished the HBx-enhanced proliferation and colony formation in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo. CONCLUSION: HBx upregulates SPHK1 through the transcription factor AP2α, which promotes the growth of human hepatoma cells.