Silencing stomatin-like protein 2 attenuates tumor progression and inflammatory response through repressing CD14 in liver cancer.

PURPOSE

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is involved in the inflammation in liver cancer. High-expressed stomatin-like protein 2 (SLP-2) is commonly reported in many cancer types. This study aims to investigate the functions of SLP-2 in TLR4-mediated inflammatory responses and tumor progression of liver cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Plasmid transfection technique was applied to silence and overexpress genes. Changes in cell viability and apoptosis were determined by performing cell counting kit-8 assay and flow cytometry. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were determined by ELISA. We further measured the several types of the malignant transformation of SK-Hep1 cells to assess the effects of SLP-2 silencing on the cell migration and invasion, proliferation and angiogenesis of liver cancer in vitro. Western blot and RT-qPCR were performed for expression analysis.

RESULTS

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) promoted the cell proliferation of SK-Hep1 and production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and IL-6. SLP-2 silencing could inhibit the protein and mRNA levels of CD14 and Cdc42 and subsequently inhibited the levels of TNF-α and IL-6. Overexpressed CD14 not only remarkably reversed the proapoptotic ability of SLP-2 silencing and promoted the expression of Cdc42 and production of TNF-α and IL-6, but also notably reversed the inhibitory effects on the malignant abilities of SK-Hep1 cells by SLP-2 silencing.

CONCLUSION

SLP-2 silencing could significantly attenuate the inflammatory responses and tumor progression of liver cancer via inhibiting LPS/TLR4 signal transduction through the repression of CD14.