Abstract
Members of the metallothionein (MT) family are involved in metal detoxifcation and in the protection of cells against certain electrophilic carcinogens. In present study, it was found that MT1M was downregulated in more than 77.1% (91/118) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. Furthermore, overexpression of MT1M inhibited cell viability, colony formation, cell migration and invasion in HCC cell lines and tumor cell growth in xenograft nude mice, and activated cell apoptosis in HCC cell lines. In addition, immunohistochemistry analysis showed MT1M was negative or weak staining in tumor tissues but moderate or strong staining in adjacent non-tumor tissues. The sensitivity and specificity of MT1M for HCC diagnosis were 76.27% and 89.83%, respectively. In conclusion, MT1M was identified as a potential tumor marker for HCC and may serve as a useful therapeutic agent for HCC gene therapy.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer across the world [1]
It was found that MT1M was downregulated in more than 77.1% (91/118) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues
Interesting, 3 MT superfamily numbers, MT1M, MT1G and MT1P2 were significantly down-regulated in the HCC tumor tissues
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer across the world [1]. Each year more than 500,000 new patients are diagnosed with HCC in the world [2]. Early diagnosis of HCC is complicated by the coexistence of inflammation and cirrhosis. Novel biomarkers for HCC early diagnosis are required [3]. Numerous novel biomarkers were identified due to the advances in genomics and proteomics techniques. These biomarkers are being developed for use of HCC diagnosis, and in prediction of patient and treatment outcomes and individualization of therapy [4,5,6]. Some of them are more promising, such as glypican-3(GPC3) [7], osteopontin(OPN) [8], Des-γcarboxyprothrombin(DCP) [9], Golgi protein-73(GP73) [10] and microRNAs (miR-122 and miR-21, et al.) [11, 12]
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