Abstract
Dysregulation of tumor-relevant proteins may contribute to human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumorigenesis. FBXO45 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that is frequently elevated expression in human HCC. However, it remains unknown whether FBXO45 is associated with hepatocarcinogenesis and how to treat HCC patients with high FBXO45 expression. Here, IHC and qPCR analysis revealed that FBXO45 protein and mRNA were highly expressed in 54.3% (57 of 105) and 52.2% (132 of 253) of the HCC tissue samples, respectively. Highly expressed FBXO45 promoted liver tumorigenesis in transgenic mice. Mechanistically, FBXO45 promoted IGF2BP1 ubiquitination at the Lys190 and Lys450 sites and subsequent activation, leading to the upregulation of PLK1 expression and the induction of cell proliferation and liver tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. PLK1 inhibition or IGF2BP1 knockdown significantly blocked FBXO45-driven liver tumorigenesis in FBXO45 transgenic mice, primary cells, and HCCs. Furthermore, IHC analysis on HCC tissue samples revealed a positive association between the hyperexpression of FBXO45 and PLK1/IGF2BP1, and both had positive relationship with poor survival in HCC patients. Thus, FBXO45 plays an important role in promoting liver tumorigenesis through IGF2BP1 ubiquitination and activation, and subsequent PLK1 upregulation, suggesting a new strategy for treating HCC by targeting FBXO45/IGF2BP1/PLK1 axis.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive primary liver malignancy
Gene expression analysis of two datasets revealed that FBXO45 was overexpressed in HCC tissue compared with normal tissue
IHC analysis on HCC samples showed that FBXO45 expression was positively associated with tumor size, tumor differentiation and TNM stage (Figure 1C-E and Table 1), indicating that FBXO45 expression positively correlated with HCC disease progression
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive primary liver malignancy. HCC treatment strategy is based on tumor staging. According to the 8th American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM Staging for HCC, T1 (solitary tumor ≤2 cm ; solitary tumor >2 cm without vascular invasion), T2 (solitary tumor >2 cm with vascular invasion; or multiple tumors, none >5 cm), T3 (multiple tumors, at least one of which is >5 cm) and T4 (single tumor or multiple tumors of any size involving a major branch of the portal vein or hepatic vein, or tumor(s) with direct invasion of adjacent organs other than the gallbladder or with perforation of visceral peritoneum) were differentiated.
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