MicroRNA-216a/217-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ... : Hepatology (original) (raw)

Hepatobiliary Malignancies

MicroRNA-216a/217-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Targets Pten and SMAD7 to Promote Drug Resistance and Recurrence of Liver Cancer

1_Laboratory of Cancer Genomics, Division of Cellular and Molecular Research, Humphrey Oei Institute of Cancer Research, National Cancer Center, Singapore, Singapore_

2_Department of Surgical Oncology, National Cancer Center, Singapore, Singapore_

3_Department of General Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore_

4_Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke–National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, Singapore, Singapore_

5_Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore_

6_Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Biopolis Drive Proteos, Singapore, Singapore_

Received September 27, 2012; accepted February 22, 2013

Address reprint requests to: Kam M. Hui, Ph.D., Division of Cellular and Molecular Research, National Cancer Center, 11 Hospital Drive, Singapore 169610, Singapore. E-mail:[email protected]; fax: +65 6226-3843.

Potential conflict of interest: Nothing to report.

This work was supported by grants from the SingHealth Foundation, the National Medical Research Council, the Biomedical Research Council of Singapore, and The Singapore Millennium Foundation. The authors thank the NCCS Tissue Repository for providing the tissue specimens for this study, Prof. S.S. Jiang from Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) for providing the pLL3.7-miR-control vectors, and Addgene for the plasmids.

Abstract

Tumor recurrence and metastases are the major obstacles to improving the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To identify novel risk factors associated with HCC recurrence and metastases, we have established a panel of recurrence-associated microRNAs (miRNAs) by comparing miRNA expression in recurrent and nonrecurrent human HCC tissue samples using microarrays (recurrence is defined as recurrent disease occurring within a 2-year time point of the original treatment). Among the panel, expression of the miR-216a/217 cluster was consistently and significantly up-regulated in HCC tissue samples and cell lines associated with early tumor recurrence, poor disease-free survival, and an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype. Stable overexpression of miR-216a/217-induced EMT increased the stem-like cell population, migration, and metastatic ability of epithelial HCC cells. Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 7 (SMAD7) were subsequently identified as two functional targets of miR-216a/217, and both PTEN and SMAD7 were down-regulated in HCC. Ectopic expression of PTEN or SMAD7 partially rescued miR-216a/217-mediated EMT, cell migration, and stem-like properties of HCC cells. Previously, SMAD7 was shown to be a transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) type 1 receptor antagonist. Here, we further demonstrated that overexpression of miR-216a/217 acted as a positive feedback regulator for the TGF-β pathway and the canonical pathway involved in the activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase K (PI3K/Akt) signaling in HCC cells. Additionally, activation of the TGF-β- and PI3K/Akt-signaling pathways in HCC cells resulted in an acquired resistance to sorafenib, whereas blocking activation of the TGF-β pathway overcame miR-216a/217-induced sorafenib resistance and prevented tumor metastases in HCC. Conclusion : Overexpression of miR-216a/217 activates the PI3K/Akt and TGF-β pathways by targeting PTEN and SMAD7, contributing to hepatocarcinogenesis and tumor recurrence in HCC. (Hepatology 2013;58:629–641)