Abstract
BackgroundLiver cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related death in human. HOXA7 has been proved to be related with several cancers.MethodThe expression levels of HOXA7 were examined by Western blot, qRT-PCR or ICH. MTT was used to detect the proliferative rate of liver cancer cells. The invasive abilities were examined by matrigel and transwell assay. The metastatic abilities of liver cancer cells were revealed in BALB/c nude mice.ResultsIn this report, we revealed that HOXA7 promoted metastasis of HCC patients. First, increased levels of HOXA7 were examined in liver cancer especially in metastatic liver cancer. Moreover, higher expression level of HOXA7 was associated with poorer prognosis of liver cancer patients. Overexpression of HOXA7 significantly enhanced proliferation, migration, invasion in vitro and tumor growth and metastasis in vivo meanwhile silencing HOXA7 significantly inhibited the aboves abilities of liver cancer cells. In this research, we identified that HOXA7 performed its oncogenic characteristics through activating Snail.ConclusionCollectively, we identify the critical role and possible mechanism of HOXA7 in metastasis of liver cancer which suggest that HOXA7 may be a potential therapeutic target of liver cancer patients.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12943-016-0540-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Liver cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related death in human
Ectopic levels of Homeobox protein A7 (HOXA7) are related with metastasis and prognosis of liver cancer At the first time, we confirmed whether HOXA7 expression level was elevated in liver cancer by western blot
We analyzed the relationship between HOXA7 and metastasis and found that both mRNA level (Fig. 1b) and protein levels (Additional file 1: Figure S1B) of HOXA7 was significantly elevated in metastatic liver tumors
Summary
Liver cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related death in human. Liver cancer is one of the leading causes of cancerrelated death all around the world [1, 2]. Significant advances in diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer are reported, but patients with liver cancer still have a very dismal long-term prognosis. Intrahepatic recurrence and metastasis which simultaneously predict poor outcome are the main challenges in the treatment of patients with liver cancer. EMT could promote tumor cell invasion and metastasis as well as lead to the generation of cancer stem cells with increased self-renewal and tumor-initiating capabilities and increased resistance to apoptosis and chemotherapy [4, 9]. One of the significant changes is loss of E-cadherin which is essential for cell to cell adhesion, and suppression of E-cadherin is one of the key steps in EMT which
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