GSG2 promotes tumor growth through regulating cell proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors in the world. In recent years, more and more inhibitors against gene targets have been found to be beneficial to survival. However, the function of homo-sapiens histone H3 associated protein kinase (GSG2) in HCC has not been completely understood.

METHODS

The expression of GSG2 in HCC tissues was detected by immunohistochemical staining. The lentivirus-mediated short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to knockdown GSG2 expression in HCC cell lines Hep3B2.1-7 and SK-HEP-1. Cell proliferation and colony formation were detected by MTT assay and colony formation assay, respectively, and flow cytometry assay was used to investigate the cell apoptosis in vitro. Mice xenograft model was constructed to detect the functions of GSG2 on tumor growth in vivo. Human Apoptosis Antibody Array was conducted to find the possible mechanism.

RESULTS

GSG2 was overexpressed in HCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. The knockdown of GSG2 had the functions of inhibiting the progression of HCC, including inhibiting cell proliferation and colony formation and promoting cell apoptosis. Compared with shCtrl group, the shGSG2 group expressed higher apoptotic genes such as caspase 3, caspase 8, Fas and FasL, while lower IGF1, Bcl2 and Bcl-w.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study showed that knockdown of GSG2 suppresses the tumor growth in vitro and vivo. Therefore, GSG2 might play an oncogenic role in HCC.