Knockdown of C/EBP β Promotes the Proliferation and Migration of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells
In recent years,studies have shown that C/EBP β plays an important role in the occurrence and development of liver cancer,but its specific molecular regulatory mechanism is still unclear.In this study,we analyzed the GEO database and the Kaplan-Meier Plotter database and found that the mRNA expression of C/EBP β was low in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)cells(P＜0.05),and its low ex-pression was closely related to the prognosis of HCC patients.Furthermore,functional enrichment analy-sis and TIMER database analysis showed that C/EBP β was mainly involved in biological processes such as cell cycle and DNA transcription,and the expression level of C/EBP β had a strong correlation with the immune infiltration of CD4+T cells and macrophages(P＜0.05).To further investigate the effect of C/EBP β on the proliferation and migration of HCC cells.In the experiment,HCC cells were transiently transfected with C/EBP β siRNA and divided into si-NC group and siC/EBP β group.The mRNA and protein levels of C/EBP β in HCC cells were significantly reduced by qRT-PCR and Western blot(P＜0.05),and MTT detection,plate cloning assay,and 5-ethynyl-2'deoxyuracil nucleoside(Edu)assay confirmed that knockdown of C/EBP β promotes the proliferation of HCC cells(P＜0.05);Transwell and scratch assays confirmed that knockdown of C/EBP β promote the migration of HCC cells;Western blot method was used to detect the effect of knockdown of C/EBP β on the expression of migration-related proteins(E-cadherin,N-cadherin)and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway proteins.The results showed that knockdown of C/EBP β promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)and activates gene ex-pression of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in HCC cells(P＜0.05).In conclusion,C/EBP β was un-derexpressed in HCC tissues and was positively correlated with the survival prognosis of patients.Knock-down of C/EBP β may promote the proliferation,migration,and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation of HCC cells by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway,which provides a basis for the role of C/EBP β in the occurrence and development of HCC and may be a potential target in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.
hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)cell proliferationcell migrationCCAAT/enhancer binding protein β(C/EBP β)
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