ARHGEF37 overexpression promotes extravasation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma via directly activating Cdc42

Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research - 2022
Xin Zhang1, Ren Lang1, Junhua Wu2, Rongni Feng3, Yunyang Chen2, Ronggang Li4, Meimei Wu1, Mingzhu Zheng1, Xing Gui Wu3, Wei Luo3, Hongle He3, Yanming Huang1, Miaoling Tang5, Jun Li3
1Clinical Experimental Center, Jiangmen Key Laboratory of Clinical Biobanks and Translational Research, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 529030, China
2Department of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Splenic Surgery, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 529030, China
3Department of Biochemistry Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China
4Department of Pathology, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 529030, China
5Cancer Center, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong, China

Tóm tắt

Abstract Background The extravasation capability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells plays a vital role in distant metastasis. However, the underlying mechanism of extravasation in HCC lung metastasis remains largely unclear. Methods The expression of ARHGEF37 in human HCC specimens and HCC cell lines was examined by quantitative RT-PCR, western blot, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analyses. The biological roles and mechanisms of ARHGEF37/Cdc42 in promoting lung metastasis were investigated in vitro and in vivo using cell lines, patient samples, xenograft models. Results In the current study, we found that Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 37 (ARHGEF37) was upregulated in human HCC samples and was associated with tumor invasiveness, pulmonary metastasis and poor prognosis. Overexpressing ARHGEF37 significantly enhanced the extravasation and metastatic capability of HCC cells via facilitating tumor cell adhesion to endothelial cells and trans-endothelial migration. Mechanistically, ARHGEF37 directly interacted with and activated Cdc42 to promote the invadopodia formation in HCC cells, which consequently disrupted the interaction between endothelial cells and pericytes. Importantly, treatment with ZCL278, a specific inhibitor of Cdc42, dramatically inhibited the attachment of ARHGEF37-overexpressing HCC cells to endothelial cells, and the adherence and extravasation in the lung alveoli, resulting in suppression of lung metastasis in mice. Conclusion Our findings provide a new insight into the underlying mechanisms on the ARHGEF37 overexpression-mediated extravasation and pulmonary metastasis of HCC cells, and provided a potential therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of HCC pulmonary metastasis.

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