A miR-9-5p/FOXO1/CPEB3 Feed-Forward Loop Drives the Progression of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Hui Hu,
Wei Huang,
Hong Zhang,
Jianye Li,
Qiong Zhang,
Ya-Ru Miao,
Fei-Fei Hu,
Lu Gan,
Zhenhong Su,
Xiangliang Yang,
An-Yuan Guo
Affiliations
Hui Hu
Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Wei Huang
National Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Hong Zhang
Department of Gastroenterology, Wuhan Third Hospital, Wuhan 430060, China
Jianye Li
National Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Qiong Zhang
Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Ya-Ru Miao
Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Fei-Fei Hu
Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Lu Gan
National Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Zhenhong Su
Hubei Key Laboratory for Kidney Disease Pathogenesis and Intervention, Medical College, Hubei Polytechnic University, Huangshi 435000, China
Xiangliang Yang
National Engineering Research Center for Nanomedicine, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
An-Yuan Guo
Center for Artificial Intelligence Biology, Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, but its regulatory mechanism remains unclear and potential clinical biomarkers are still lacking. Co-regulation of TFs and miRNAs in HCC and FFL module studies may help to identify more precise and critical driver modules in HCC development. Here, we performed a comprehensive gene expression and regulation analysis for HCC in vitro and in vivo. Transcription factor and miRNA co-regulatory networks for differentially expressed genes between tumors and adjacent tissues revealed the critical feed-forward loop (FFL) regulatory module miR-9-5p/FOXO1/CPEB3 in HCC. Gain- and loss-of-function studies demonstrated that miR-9-5p promotes HCC tumor proliferation, while FOXO1 and CPEB3 inhibit hepatocarcinoma growth. Furthermore, by luciferase reporter assay and ChIP-Seq data, CPEB3 was for the first time identified as a direct downstream target of FOXO1, negatively regulated by miR-9-5p. The miR-9-5p/FOXO1/CPEB3 FFL was associated with poor prognosis, and promoted cell growth and tumor progression of HCC in vitro and in vivo. Our study identified for the first time the existence of miR-9-5p/FOXO1/CPEB3 FFL and revealed its regulatory role in HCC progression, which may represent a new potential target for cancer therapy.
