BMC Cancer (Nov 2021)

Cellular retinol binding protein-1 inhibits cancer stemness via upregulating WIF1 to suppress Wnt/β-catenin pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma

  • Xiangye Liu,
  • Wenhua Shan,
  • Tingting Li,
  • Xiaoge Gao,
  • Fanyun Kong,
  • Hongjuan You,
  • Delong Kong,
  • Shuxi Qiao,
  • Renxian Tang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-021-08967-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 21, no. 1
pp. 1 – 17

Abstract

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Abstract Background CRBP-1, a cytosolic chaperone of vitamin A, is identified in a serious number of cancers; however, its biological role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) needs to be further explored. The aim of our present study is to explore the roles and mechanisms of CRBP-1 in regulating liver cancer by using in vitro and in vivo biology approaches. Methods The expression level of CRBP-1 was detected using immunohistochemistry in HCC and matching adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues. Following established stable CRBP-1 overexpressed HCC cell lines, the cell growth and tumorigenicity were investigated both in vitro and in vivo. Intracellular retinoic acid was quantified by ELISA. The relationship between CRBP-1 and WIF1 was validated by using dual luciferase and ChIP analyses. Results The low expression of CRBP-1 was observed in HCC tissues compared to the normal liver tissues, while high CRBP-1 expression correlated with clinicopathological characteristics and increased overall survival in HCC patients. Overexpression of CRBP-1 significantly inhibited cell growth and tumorigenicity both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, overexpression of CRBP-1 suppressed tumorsphere formation and cancer stemness related genes expression in HCC. Mechanically, CRBP-1 inhibited Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway to suppress cancer cell stemness of HCC. Furthermore, our results revealed that CRBP-1 could increase the intracellular levels of retinoic acid, which induced the activation of RARs/RXRs leading to the transcriptional expression of WIF1, a secreted antagonist of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, by physically interacting with the region on WIF1 promoter. Conclusion Our findings reveal that CRBP-1 is a crucial player in the initiation and progression of HCC, which provide a novel independent prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

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