Study On The Role Of TMPRSS4 In Recurrence And Metastasis Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective:The metastasis and recurrence after operation are the important reason of poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). So far epithelial mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) play an important role in invasion and metastasis of malignant epithelial tumours, which is related to the occurrence, development, invasion and metastasis of HCC.Transmembrane protease serine 4 (TMPRSS4) is the new subfamily of typeⅡtransmembrane serine protease (TTSPs), which could promote the growth, invasion and metastasis of carcinoma. However, whether TMPRSS4 could be expressed in HCC and whether it has effects on recurrence and metastasis of HCC are not known well.Our present study was to observe the effects on the expression of E-cadherin, Vimentin and Snail caused by overexpression of TMPRSS4. E-cadherin and Vimentin are hallmarks of epithelial-mesenchyal transition (EMT), so we could find out the role of TMPRSS4 in recurrence and metastasis of HCC.Methods:(1) To construct HCC cell line with TMPRSS4 overexpression transfected by lent virus or GFP.(2) Three groups of BEL-7402 were divided, that is groupⅠ(BEL-7402), groupⅡ(lent virus negative control in BEL-7402), and groupⅢ(TMPRSS4 overexpression in BEL-7402).(3) The cell proliferation affected by TMPRSS4 overexpression was examined by CCK8 assay; to detect the mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin, Vimentin and Snail in different groups of BEL-7402 by means of RT-PCR and Western Blot.Results:TMPRSS4 overexpression in BEL-7402 could be transfected successfully and then cell line expressed stably could be chosen. Compared with BEL-7402, the cell proliferation had no difference by TMPRSS4 overexpression remarkably. Meanwhile, the mRNA and protein expression of Vimentin and Snail were elevated remarkably in groupⅠ. On the contrary, the mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin was suppressed obviously. Compared with BEL-7402, the group 2 that was BEL-7402 transfected with GFP had no difference on the expression of Vimentin, Snail and E-cadherin.Conclusions:(1) TMPRSS4 overexpression could accelerate the expression of Vimentin and Snail, at the same time, it could suppress the expression of E-cadherin.(2) This study implies that TMPRSS4 overexpression has the important role on the occurrence of EMT and the invasion, metastasis and progression of HCC, which could be as the new target of HCC therapy.