Sulfatase-1 knockdown promotes in vitro and in vivo aggressive behavior of murine hepatocarcinoma Hca-P cells through up-regulation of mesothelin

Abstract

Our previous study (Oncotarget 2016; 7:46) demonstrated that the over-expression of sulfatase-1 in murine hepatocarcinoma Hca-F cell line (a murine HCC cell with lymph node metastatic [LNM] rate of >75%) downregulates mesothelin and leads to reduction in lymphatic metastasis, both in vitro and in vivo. In current work, we investigated the effects of Sulf-1 knockdown on mesothelin (Msln) and it's effects on the in vitro cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and in vivo tumor growth and LNM rate for Hca-P cells (a murine HCC cell with LNM rate of <25%). Western blotting and qRT-PCR assay indicated that both in vitro and in vivo Sulf-1 was down-regulated by 75% and 68% and led to up regulation of Msln by 55% in shRNA-transfected-Sulf-1-Hca-P cells compared with Hca-P and nonspecific sequence control plasmid transfected Hca-P cell (shRNA-Nc-Hca-P). The in vitro proliferation, migration and invasion potentials were significantly enhanced following Sulf-1 stable down-regulation. In addition, Sulf-1 knock-down significantly promoted tumor growth and increased LNM rates of shRNA-Sulf-1-Hca-P-transplanted mice by 78.6% (11 out of 14 lymph nodes were positive of cancer). Consistent with our previous work, we confirmed that Sulf-1 plays an important role in hepatocarcinoma cell proliferation, migration, invasion and metastasis. The interaction between Sulf-1 and Msln is a potential therapeutic target in the development of liver cancer therapy.

6-O-endosulfatases in tumor metastasis: heparan sulfate proteoglycans modification and potential therapeutic targets

“…Moreover, Mahmoud et al made further exploration of SULF1 in HCC by constructing overexpressed and knockdown murine HCC cell lines. Their findings revealed that SULF1 could attenuate HCC cells EMT by downregulating mesothelin, thus inhibit cells growth and invasion in vitro and in vivo [127,128]. In contrast, SULF2 was reported to upregulate SNAI1 and vimentin to promote EMT in HCC [129].…”