Research Paper Volume 14, Issue 24 pp 10081—10092

SALL4 activates PI3K/AKT signaling pathway through targeting PTEN, thus facilitating migration, invasion and proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Zhipeng Tang1, , Pei Zhao1, , Wanxing Zhang2, , Qian Zhang3, , Ming Zhao1, , He Tan1, ,

  • 1 Department of Laboratory, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050017, China
  • 2 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050017, China
  • 3 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, Beijing 102218, China

Received: March 11, 2022       Accepted: December 9, 2022       Published: December 26, 2022      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.204446
How to Cite

Copyright: © 2022 Tang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

This study aims to explore the specific mechanisms of SALL4 on the migration, invasion and proliferation of HCC. HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells were transfected with SALL4 NC, mimics and inhibitors. The proliferation capability and cell cycle progression of HCC cells were detected through CCK8 assay and flow cytometry, and their migration and invasion capabilities were detected by wound healing assay and Transwell assay. In SALL4 inhibitor NC group and SALL4 inhibitor group, the PTEN inhibitor SF1670 was added, and the expression levels of PI3K/AKT, migration, invasion and proliferation-related proteins were detected by Western blotting. Results showed that after up-regulation of SALL4, the migration distance of HCC cells increased, the numbers of migrated cells and the number of colonies formed significantly rosed, and there were fewer cells in G1 phase but significantly more cells in S phase, thereby down-regulation of SALL4, the opposite results. The results of Western blotting revealed that after SF1670, the specific PTEN inhibitor was added in SALL4 inhibitor group and SALL4 inhibitor NC group, the protein expression of PTEN in HCC cells significantly declined, while the protein expressions of p-PI3K, p-AKT, MMP2, MMP9, CyclinD, CyclinA1, PCNA and P62 significantly rose. In conclusion, SALL4 activates the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway through targeting PTEN, thereby facilitating the migration, invasion and proliferation of HCC cells.

Abbreviations

SALL4: Sal-like 4; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; CCK8: cell counting kit-8; PI3K: phosphatidylinositol 3-hydroxy kinase; AKT: protein kinase B.