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Hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) accounts for 90% of all liver cancers and is a serious health concern worldwide. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been observed to sponge microRNAs (miRNAs) and participate in the biological processes of LIHC. This study aimed to evaluate the role of the ST8SIA6-AS1-miR-142-3p-HMGA1 axis in regulating LIHC progression. RT-qPCR and western blotting were performed to determine the levels of ST8SIA6-AS1, miR-142-3p, and HMGA1 in LIHC. The relationship between ST8SIA6-AS1, miR-142-3p, and HMGA1 was assessed using luciferase assay. The role of the ST8SIA6-AS1-miR-142-3p-HMGA1 axis was evaluated in vitro using LIHC cells. Expression of ST8SIA6-AS1 and HMGA1 was significantly upregulated, whereas that of miR-142-3p was markedly lowered in LIHC specimens and cells. ST8SIA6-AS1 accelerated cell growth, invasion, and migration and suppressed apoptosis in LIHC. Notably, ST8SIA6-AS1 inhibited HMGA1 expression by sponging miR-142-3p in LIHC cells. In conclusion, sponging of miR-142-3p by ST8SIA6-AS1 accelerated the growth of cells while preventing cell apoptosis in LIHC cells, and the inhibitory effect of miR-142-3p was abrogated by elevating HMGA1 expression. The ST8SIA6-AS1-miR-142-3p-HMGA1 axis represents a potential target for the treatment of patients with LIHC., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: There are no validated biomarkers that can predict the clinical benefit of immune checkpoint blockers against the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) treatments in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of inflammation-immunity-nutrition score (IINS) in patients with HCC treated with anti-PD-1 therapy., Methods: A consecutive series of 101 HCC patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors in Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital between January 2018 and August 2020 were enrolled in the retrospective study. IINS (0-6) was constructed based on pretreatment high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), lymphocyte (LYM), and albumin (ALB). The patients were divided into high and low IINS groups according to IINS values. Prognostic values of each variable were evaluated with univariate and multivariate time-dependent Cox regression analyses. Survival curves were calculated and compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. The prognostic performance of IINS was further compared with that of other traditional prognostic indicators by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the areas under the ROC curve., Results: Patients with low IINS had longer overall survival (OS) (HR: 4.711, 95% CI: 1.80-12.37, p = .001) and progression-free survival (HR: 3.411, 95% CI: 1.79-6.51, p < .0001) than those with high IINS. The multivariate analysis identified IINS (HR: 3.746, 95% CI: 1.05-13.38, p = .042) and tumor number (HR: 5.111, 95% CI: 1.075-24.299, p = .04) as independent prognostic factors. According to ROC analysis, IINS (AUC =0.729, 95% CI: 0.597-0.861, p = .002) presented better prognostic performance than other traditional prognostic indicators. The area of the IINS-CA19-9 under the ROC curve (AUC) was higher than that of the IINS or CA19-9 levels for the prediction of OS., Conclusion: The results suggest that IINS may be an independent prognostic indicator for HCC patients treated with anti-PD-1 therapy. IINS-CA19-9 classification may be more effective in predicting clinical benefit of anti-PD-1 therapy in HCC patients., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The present research was major in investigating the regulation association among hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 (has&#95;circ&#95;RPPH1), miR-1258, miR-622 and MAPK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and we explored the mechanism underlying pathogenesis of HCC. Microarray analysis was employed to detect hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 expression in HCC. Hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 was verified as a circRNA by testing divergent primers and RNase R. And qRT-PCR was performed to determine the expression of hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432, miR-1258, miR-622 and MAPK1 mRNA. Furthermore, miRanda predicted that mRNAs targeted miR-1258 and miR-622. CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry as well as transwell assay were performed to detect cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis and invasive ability, respectively. Xenograft in nude mice was applied to observe tumor growth in vivo . Up-regulated hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 and down-regulated miR-1258 and miR-622 were detected in HCC while Hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 enhanced expression of MAPK1 mRNA by targeting miR-1258 and miR-622. Knocking down hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 or overexpressing miR-1258 and miR-622 inhibited proliferation and invasive ability of HCC cell and promoted cell apoptosis. Hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 was confirmed to promote tumor growth via inhibiting miR-1258 and miR-622 expression and promoting MAPK1 mRNA expression by in vivo experiment. Hsa&#95;circ&#95;0101432 inhibited HCC cell apoptosis, promoted cell proliferation, invasive ability and HCC tumor growth by targeting miR-1258 and miR-622 and upregulating MAPK1 mRNA expression.

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRs or miRNAs) may contribute to the initiation and progression of various types of human cancer and may also constitute biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, the specific function of miR-9 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear, and the mechanisms that underlie HCC are incompletely understood. Here, we report that miR-9 expression was significantly decreased in clinical tumor tissue samples, as well as in a cohort of HCC cell lines. In addition, it was demonstrated that overexpression of miR-9 suppressed the proliferative and migratory capacity of HCC cells and impaired cell cycle progression. Furthermore, high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) was verified as a downstream target gene of miR-9 using a luciferase reporter assay. Quantitative RT-PCR and western blotting implicated HMGA2 in the miR-9-mediated reduction of HCC cell growth. In vivo, transfection with miR-9 mimics down-regulated the expression of HMGA2, thus leading to a dramatic reduction in tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model. These results suggest that miR-9 may exert critical antitumor effects on HCC by directly targeting HMGA2, and the miR9/HMGA2 signaling pathway may be of use for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with HCC., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by FEBS Press and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background/aims: To evaluate the effect of high-intensity ultrasound (HIFU) ablation on human hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and apoptotic proteins (bcl-2 and p-53)., Methodology: Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma at stage B were treated with HIFU ablation. Levels of bcl-2 and p53 protein and the apoptosis rate were evaluated both in the pre-treatment and post-treatment tissue specimens using immunochemistry and TUNEL methods, respectively., Results: After HIFU ablation, p53 protein levels were significantly increased around the coagulation necrosis area, whereas, the level of bcl-2 was significantly decreased. More apoptosis cells were found post ablation compared with those in the pretreatment tissues. Additionally, no significant correlation was found between p53/bcl-2 levels and apoptotic index., Conclusions: HIFU ablation may exert promote the apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and the effect has a closely association with the change of p53 and bcl-2 expression.