Mechanism Analyses for Elucidating the Role of LOXL2 Silencing in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

The paper aimed to study the effect of lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explore the biological mechanisms of tumorigenicity and progression in HCC. The authors used four HCC cell lines to identify LOXL2. A lentiviral vector containing LOXL2-siRNA was constructed to silence the LOXL2 gene in SMMC-7721 cell line, and mRNA of the target gene was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The effect of LOXL2 silencing on the growth of SMMC-7721 cells was explored with flow cytometry profiling and BrdU labeling. Downstream genes of LOXL2 were selected by microarray and verified by Western Blotting. In the results, LOXL2 expression was significantly up-regulated in four types of HCC cell lines, therefore, SMMC-7721 cell line was selected for further exploration. When SMMC-7721 cell line was infected with LOXL2-siRNA, the expression of LOXL2 mRNA decreased. The silencing of LOXL2 resulted in the cell cycle arrest at the G1-phase, the increased apoptosis and the decreased growth of SMMC-7721 cells on the indicated days by BrdU. Moreover, the MDM2, BIRC3, CDC42, FOS and TGFBR2 genes were selected and verified to be the downstream genes of LOXL2. In conclusion, LOXL2 contributes to the genesis and progression of HCC cells and works by regulating downstream genes of LOXL2 in certain pathways. Therefore, LOXL2 may play an important role in the progression and prognosis of HCC.