Rab蛋白作为细胞内囊泡运输的分子开关，在囊泡运输的不同阶段发挥重要作用。Rab蛋白表达改变或发生突变，会导致囊泡运输障碍，不仅影响细胞的分泌、胞吞及信号转导，还影响肿瘤细胞增殖、凋亡、分化与转移。Rab42是Rab家族新发现的一个蛋白，其功能及在肿瘤发生发展中的作用目前国内外并无相关研究。我们前期研究发现Rab42表达增加会促进肝癌的增殖和侵袭，并通过对不同Rab42表达水平肝癌细胞的差异表达基因进行KEGG富集分析，初步发现以PI3K/Akt为主的信号通路的改变。我们推测Rab42可能通过PI3K/Akt信号通路来调控肝癌的生长转移。本项目欲进一步证实上述假说，明确Rab42调控肝癌生长转移的具体作用机制，并探讨Rab42作为肝癌转移复发的分子预测标记和治疗靶点的可行性，以完善Rab蛋白家族对肿瘤调控作用机制的理解，为预测肝癌复发转移和靶向治疗提供新的思路，以进一步提高肝癌病人的预后

As a molecular switch for intracellular vesicle transport, Rab protein plays an important role in different stages of vesicle transport. Altered expression or mutation of Rab protein can lead to vesicle transport disorder, which not only affects cell secretion, endocytosis and signal transduction, but also affects tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and metastasis. Rab42 is a recently detected protein of the Rab family, and its function and relation to tumor development have not been investigated yet. Our previous studies found that increased expression of Rab42 significantly promoted the proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and HCC cells with different Rab42 expression demonstrated differentially expressed genes. Further KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that PI3K/Akt signal pathway was significantly affected. Therefore, we speculate that Rab42 may regulate the growth and metastasis of HCC via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. In this study, we want to confirm the above hypothesis and clarify the definite mechanism of Rab42 in regulating the growth and metastasis of HCC. In addition, we also want to explore the feasibility of Rab42 as a prognostic factor and potential therapeutic target for HCC. These studies will contribute to the understanding of Rab protein family in regulating tumors, provide new ideas to target treatment for HCC, and thereby help to improve the prognosis of HCC patients.