Hepatitis B virus X protein-induced upregulation of CAT-1 stimulates proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Hepatitis B virus X protein-induced upregulation of CAT-1 stimulates proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Oncotarget. 2017 May 05;:

Authors: Dai R, Peng F, Xiao X, Gong X, Jiang Y, Zhang M, Tian Y, Xu Y, Ma J, Li M, Luo Y, Gong G

Abstract
The HBx protein of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is widely recognized to be a critical oncoprotein contributing to the development of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In addition, cationic amino acid transporter 1 (CAT-1) gene is a target of miR-122. In this study, we found that CAT-1 protein levels were higher in HBV-related HCC carcinomatous tissues than in para-cancerous tumor tissues, and that CAT-1 promoted HCC cell growth, proliferation, and metastasis. Moreover, HBx-induced decreases in Gld2 and miR-122 levels that contributed to the upregulation of CAT-1 in HCC. These results indicate that a Gld2/miR-122/CAT-1 pathway regulated by HBx likely participates in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

PMID: 28521302 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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