The μ-opioid receptor (MOR) promotes tumor initiation in hepatocellular carcinoma
The μ-opioid receptor (MOR) promotes tumor initiation in hepatocellular carcinoma
复制标题
mu-阿片受体(MOR)促进肝细胞癌的肿瘤发生
DOI:
10.1016/j.canlet.2019.03.038
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发表时间:
2019-01-01
期刊:
影响因子:
9.7
通讯作者:
Guo, Xiangyang
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Li, Yi;Li, Gang;Guo, Xiangyang
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent subtype of liver cancer. Anesthetic regimens possibly influence cancer development. Exploration of novel, effective targets for liver cancer is the current hotspot in cancer treatment. A previous study conducted by us has demonstrated that enhanced expression of the mu-opioid receptor (MOR) promotes cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and tumorigenesis. The current study investigates whether MOR regulates self-renewal of hepatocellular carcinoma stem cells (HCSCs). We utilize cell function assays, siRNA, shRNA, flow cytometry sorting, and other molecular biology techniques for this purpose. The results indicate that MOR expression is positively related to hepatocarcinoma progression. Silencing MOR greatly reduce HCC-related tumorigenesis both in vitro and in vivo and significantly extend the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Moreover, MOR silencing will greatly reduce colony formation by HCC cells, indicating down regulation of cancer initiation. In conclusion, these results establish that MOR can be a novel and reliable HCSC marker and a potential therapeutic target against HCC via MOR-NFAT signaling.