Department of Experimental Embryology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 05-552 Jastrzębiec, Poland.
Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W Markham Steet, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 28;23(3):1548. doi: 10.3390/ijms23031548.
The accumulation of mutations in cancer driver genes, such as tumor suppressors or proto-oncogenes, affects cellular homeostasis. Disturbances in the mechanism controlling proliferation cause significant augmentation of cell growth and division due to the loss of sensitivity to the regulatory signals. Nowadays, an increasing number of cases of liver cancer are observed worldwide. Data provided by the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) have indicated many alterations within gene sequences, whose roles in tumor development are not well understood. A comprehensive analysis of liver cancer (virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma) samples has identified new and rare mutations in B-Raf proto-oncogene () in Japanese HCC patients, as well as BRAF V600E mutations in French HCC patients. However, their function in liver cancer has never been investigated. Here, using functional analysis and next generation sequencing, we demonstrate the tumorigenic effect of BRAF V600E on hepatocytes (THLE-2 cell line). Moreover, we identified genes such as and , which are possibly regulated by the BRAF V600E-mediated, mitogen-activated protein kinases/extracellular signal-regulated kinases (MAPK/ERK) signaling pathway. Through several functional assays, we demonstrate that BRAF L537M, D594A, and E648G mutations alone are not pathogenic in liver cancer. The investigation of genome mutations and the determination of their impact on cellular processes and functions is crucial to unraveling the molecular mechanisms of liver cancer development.
癌症驱动基因(如肿瘤抑制基因或原癌基因)的突变积累会影响细胞的内稳态。控制增殖的机制发生紊乱会导致细胞生长和分裂的显著增加,因为细胞对调节信号的敏感性丧失。如今,全世界范围内肝癌的病例数量正在不断增加。国际癌症基因组联盟 (ICGC) 提供的数据表明,基因序列中存在许多改变,但其在肿瘤发生中的作用尚不清楚。对肝癌(病毒相关的肝细胞癌)样本的全面分析在日本 HCC 患者中发现了 B-Raf 原癌基因 () 中的新的罕见突变,以及法国 HCC 患者中的 BRAF V600E 突变。然而,它们在肝癌中的功能从未被研究过。在这里,我们使用功能分析和下一代测序技术,证明了 BRAF V600E 对肝细胞(THLE-2 细胞系)的致癌作用。此外,我们鉴定了一些基因,如 和 ,它们可能受 BRAF V600E 介导的丝裂原活化蛋白激酶/细胞外信号调节激酶 (MAPK/ERK) 信号通路调节。通过几项功能测定,我们证明 BRAF L537M、D594A 和 E648G 突变本身在肝癌中并非致病的。对基因组突变的研究及其对细胞过程和功能的影响的确定对于揭示肝癌发生的分子机制至关重要。