Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kochi University, 185-1, Kohasu, Oko-Cho, Nankoku, 783-8505, Japan.
Equipment of Support Planning Office, Kochi University, 185-1, Kohasu, Oko-Cho, Nankoku, 783-8505, Japan.
Med Mol Morphol. 2023 Dec;56(4):257-265. doi: 10.1007/s00795-023-00362-z. Epub 2023 Aug 1.
Liver cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in Japan with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as the major histological subtype. Successful novel treatments for HCC have been reported; however, recurrences or metastasis may occur, which results in poor prognoses and high mortality of HCC patients. Fascin, an actin-bundling protein, regulates cell adhesion, migration, and invasion. Its overexpression positively correlates with poor prognosis of malignant tumors, and Fascin is considered as one of the tumor biomarkers and therapeutic target proteins. In this study, we attempted to reveal the relationship between Fascin and HCC using HLE, one of the human HCC cell lines. We performed the study with classical immunocytochemistry and recently developed techniques, such as wound-healing assay, spheroid cultivation, and low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy (LV-SEM). Non-Fascin-knockdown (FKD) cell spheroid had a regular spherical appearance with tight cell-cell connections, while FKD cell spheroid had an irregular shape with loose cell-cell connections. Cells of non-FKD spheroid presented fibrous protrusions on the cell surface, contrarily, cells of FKD spheroids showed bulbous-shaped protrusions. Morphological observation of FKD and non-FKD HLE spheroids were performed using LV-SEM. Our study may help to reveal the roles of Fascin in the process of HCC formation and its malignancy.
肝癌是日本最常见的癌症之一，其主要组织学亚型为肝细胞癌 (HCC)。已经报道了 HCC 的一些成功的新型治疗方法；然而，复发或转移可能会发生，这导致 HCC 患者预后不良和死亡率高。Fascin 是一种肌动蛋白成束蛋白，调节细胞黏附、迁移和侵袭。其过表达与恶性肿瘤的不良预后呈正相关，并且 Fascin 被认为是肿瘤生物标志物和治疗靶蛋白之一。在这项研究中，我们试图使用 HLE（人肝癌细胞系之一）来揭示 Fascin 与 HCC 之间的关系。我们使用经典免疫细胞化学和最近开发的技术，如划痕愈合试验、球体培养和低真空扫描电子显微镜 (LV-SEM) 进行了研究。非 Fascin 敲低 (FKD) 细胞球体具有规则的球形外观和紧密的细胞-细胞连接，而 FKD 细胞球体具有不规则的形状和松散的细胞-细胞连接。非 FKD 球体细胞的细胞表面有纤维状突起，相反，FKD 球体细胞有球泡状突起。使用 LV-SEM 对 FKD 和非 FKD HLE 球体进行了形态观察。我们的研究可能有助于揭示 Fascin 在 HCC 形成及其恶性过程中的作用。
