miR-217 targeting DKK1 promotes cancer stem cell properties via activation of the Wnt signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma.

miR-217 targeting DKK1 promotes cancer stem cell properties via activation of the Wnt signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma. Oncol Rep. 2017 Aug 25;: Authors: Jiang C, Yu M, Xie X, Huang G, Peng Y, Ren D, Lin M, Liu B, Liu M, Wang W, Kuang M Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies and exhibits heterogeneity in terms of clinical outcomes and biological activities. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that cancer stem cells (CSCs) play important roles in the tumorigenesis and progression of HCC. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the stemness maintenance of CSCs remain largely unknown. In the present study, through real-time PCR, western blotting, luciferase assays, RNA immunoprecipitation, and in vitro and in vivo assays, we demonstrated that miR-217 expression was markedly increased in HCC tissues and cells. Overexpression of miR-217 promoted, while silencing miR-217 suppressed, the fraction of the side population and the expression of cancer stem cell factors in vitro and tumorigenicity in vivo in HCC cells. Our findings further demonstrated that miR-217 promoted the CSC-like phenotype via dickkopf-1 (DKK1) targeting, resulting in constitutive activation of Wnt signaling. Moreover, the stimulatory effects of miR-217 on stem cell properties and Wnt signaling were antagonized by the upregulation of DKK1 in miR-217-overexpressing cells. Conversely, the inhibitory effects of si...
Source: Oncology Reports - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncol Rep Source Type: research