An underlying prognosis predictor of hepatocellular carcinoma: Oncoprotein 18.

Recent studies have reported the association between the expression of oncoprotein 18 (op18) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, any underlying mechanistic connection between op18 expression and hepatocarcinogenesis is poorly understood. In the present study, Flag-pcDNA3.1 vector and Flag-pcDNA3.1-op18 plasmid were stably transfected in SMMC7721 cells, respectively. Stable SMMC7721 control and op18 overexpression SMMC7721 cell lines were constructed and identified by western blot analysis. Using a cell counting kit-8 (CCK8), it was shown that cell proliferation was significantly increased in the op18 overexpression SMMC7721 cell group (0.60±0.05), compared with the control group (0.29±0.03) at an absorbance of 450 nm (P<0.01). Flow cytometry was used to analyze cell apoptosis by FITC-Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) apoptosis assay kit. The results demonstrated that the percentage of apoptotic cells was inhibited to 5.80±0.33% in the op18 overexpression group, compared with 11.79±1.09% in the control group. Using FACS, single cell analysis data showed that op18 overexpression induced cell cycle arrest by inhibiting progression from G2 to M phase. The results suggest that op18 expression is closely associated with SMMC7721 cell proliferation and apoptosis, which appears to be a potential predictor of prognosis in HCC.