What is it about?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and aggressive malignancy worldwide. Recent research has focused on identifying gene targets to inhibit cancer progression. Our study found that zyxin (ZYX), a protein involved in cell structure, is significantly overexpressed in liver cancer tissues compared to normal liver tissues. High levels of ZYX in liver cancer cell lines (PLC/PRF/5, HCCL3, SK HEP-1, and Huh-7) enhanced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Conversely, suppressing ZYX expression reduced these aggressive behaviors. Further analysis revealed that overexpression of ZYX increased the levels of cell cycle-related proteins such as PCNA, cyclin D1, CDK2, CDK4, snail, and MMPs, which are associated with cell growth and spread. Mechanistically, we explored the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, a key regulator of cell growth and tumor development. We found that upregulating ZYX in liver cancer cells increased the phosphorylation levels of AKT and mTOR proteins. In contrast, inhibiting ZYX expression decreased the activation of these proteins. This suggests that ZYX may promote liver cancer progression through the AKT/mTOR pathway, making it a potential therapeutic target for liver cancer treatment.

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Why is it important?

We used ZYX overexpression and interference plasmids to construct stably transfected hepatoma cell lines, confirmed the effect of ZYX expression on the motility of HCC cells, and the changes in AKT and mTOR phosphorylated proteins also revealed the relationship between ZYX and the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway for the first time. Based on the above results, we boldly speculate that ZYX may mediate the progression of HCC via the AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Our study has broadened the avenues for ZYX research in the field of cancer biology, and provided new targets and directions for the prevention and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma as well.

Perspectives

This article is of great significance. It has discovered a new genetic target that may be used to treat HCC, and it also serves as a good example for many beginners in scientific research.

Tianying Cai
Xiamen University

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This page is a summary of: Zyxin promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression via the activation of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clinical Cancer Therapeutics, January 2023, Tsinghua University Press,
DOI: 10.32604/or.2023.029549.
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