RESUMO
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) arises from cholangiocytes in the intrahepatic bile duct and is the second most common type of liver cancer. The overexpression of COUP-TFII has been observed in several types of malignancies. However, its role in ICC progression remains unclear. In this study, we found that the protein level of COUP-TFII was increased, but the mRNA level was unchanged in ICC tissues. High protein expression was positively associated with tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis in ICC patients. Furthermore, the overexpression of COUP-TFII promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ICC cells in vitro and enhanced tumor growth and metastasis in nude mouse models. Mechanistic studies revealed that COUP-TFII induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in ICC cells by upregulating Snail expression. Moreover, the activation of PI3K/AKT signaling led to the upregulation of COUP-TFII protein expression in ICC. Together, these findings indicate that COUP-TFII promotes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and metastasis in ICC and suggest that this protein is a potential target for adjuvant therapy for these patients.
Assuntos
Neoplasias dos Ductos Biliares/genética , Fator II de Transcrição COUP/genética , Fator II de Transcrição COUP/metabolismo , Colangiocarcinoma/genética , Transição Epitelial-Mesenquimal/genética , Fatores de Transcrição da Família Snail/genética , Idoso , Animais , Neoplasias dos Ductos Biliares/patologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Movimento Celular/genética , Proliferação de Células/genética , Colangiocarcinoma/diagnóstico , Colangiocarcinoma/patologia , Feminino , Humanos , Estimativa de Kaplan-Meier , Masculino , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Nus , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Metástase Neoplásica/genética , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/metabolismo , Prognóstico , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição da Família Snail/metabolismo , Regulação para CimaRESUMO
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation and its associated RNA-binding protein insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) are involved in tumor initiation and progression. Here, we explored the biological function and clinical significance of IGF2BP1 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA). We found that IGF2BP1 expression was upregulated by H3K27 acetylation enrichment of its promoter, which positively correlated with poor clinicopathological characteristics and survival. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that IGF2BP1 overexpression (knockdown) enhanced (attenuated) iCCA growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, IGF2BP1 not only regulated the c-Myc/p16 axis to promote iCCA growth and inhibit senescence, but also activated the ZIC2/PAK4/AKT/MMP2 axis to induce tumor metastasis. More importantly, BTYNB, a recently identified IGF2BP1 inhibitor, exerted promising anti-tumor efficacy in a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model, and IGF2BP1 conditional knockout (cKO) reduced the tumor burden. These results demonstrate the crucial role of IGF2BP1 in iCCA progression via m6A-dependent modification, highlighting IGF2BP1 as a potential therapeutic target in iCCA.