National Engineering Research Center for Miniaturized Detection Systems, The College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710069, China.
Department of Surgical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China.
Chin Med J (Engl). 2021 Sep 21;134(21):2611-2618. doi: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001655.
Nucleolar protein 6 (NOL6) is a nucleolar RNA-associated protein that is highly conserved between species. It has been proved to be associated with the prognosis of liver cancer. However, the underlying mechanism has not been fully established. This study aimed to assess the relationship between NOL6 and liver cancer prognosis.
We constructed an NOL6-short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-expressing lentivirus. Through viral transfection, cell growth assay and fluorescence-activated cell sorting, we evaluated the effect of shRNA-mediated NOL6 knockdown on the proliferation, colony formation, and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. The relationship between NOL6 expression and HCC patient survival has been established through bioinformatics analysis. We also explored the downstream molecular regulatory network of NOL6 in HCC by performing an Ingenuity Pathway Analysis in the database.
Increased NOL6 expression was detected in HCC cells compared to normal controls; HCC patients with high NOL6 expression had poorer prognoses than those with low expression. NOL6 knockdown inhibited HCC cell proliferation, apoptosis, and colony formation. Also, MAPK8, CEBPA, and FOSL1 were selected as potential downstream genes of NOL6.
NOL6 up-regulates HCC cell proliferation and affects downstream expression of related genes. Moreover, NOL6 is considered to be associated with poor prognosis in HCC patients.
核仁蛋白 6（NOL6）是一种与核仁 RNA 相关的蛋白，在物种间高度保守。它已被证明与肝癌的预后有关。然而，其潜在的机制尚未完全建立。本研究旨在评估 NOL6 与肝癌预后的关系。
我们构建了 NOL6-shRNA 表达慢病毒。通过病毒转染、细胞生长试验和荧光激活细胞分选，我们评估了 shRNA 介导的 NOL6 敲低对肝癌细胞增殖、集落形成和凋亡的影响。通过生物信息学分析建立了 NOL6 表达与肝癌患者生存的关系。我们还通过在数据库中进行 Ingenuity 通路分析，探索了 NOL6 在 HCC 中的下游分子调控网络。
与正常对照相比，肝癌细胞中检测到 NOL6 表达增加；NOL6 高表达的 HCC 患者预后比低表达患者差。NOL6 敲低抑制 HCC 细胞增殖、凋亡和集落形成。此外，MAPK8、CEBPA 和 FOSL1 被选为 NOL6 的潜在下游基因。
NOL6 上调 HCC 细胞增殖，并影响相关基因的下游表达。此外，NOL6 被认为与 HCC 患者的不良预后有关。
