Macrophage-secreted IL-8 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma cells by activating the JAK2/STAT3/Snail pathway

Fu,Xiu-Tao; Dai,Zhi; Song,Kang; Zhang,Zhuo-Jun; Zhou,Zheng-Jun; Zhou,Shao-Lai; Zhao,Yi-Ming; Xiao,Yong-Sheng; Sun,Qi-Man; Ding,Zhen-Bin; Fan,Jia

doi:10.3892/ijo.2014.2761

Macrophage-secreted IL-8 induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma cells by activating the JAK2/STAT3/Snail pathway

Authors:
- Xiu-Tao Fu
- Zhi Dai
- Kang Song
- Zhuo-Jun Zhang
- Zheng-Jun Zhou
- Shao-Lai Zhou
- Yi-Ming Zhao
- Yong-Sheng Xiao
- Qi-Man Sun
- Zhen-Bin Ding
- Jia Fan
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Affiliations: Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion, Fudan University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai 200032, P.R. China, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Organ Transplantation, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China
Published online on: November 18, 2014 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2014.2761
Pages: 587-596

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Abstract

Macrophages are a major component of the leukocyte infiltrate of tumors and play a pivotal role in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanisms by which macrophages promote HCC invasion are poorly understood. The present study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between macrophages and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of HCC. Double-staining immunohistochemistry was used to observe the association between macrophages and EMT markers in clinical HCC samples and it showed that EMT primarily occurred at the edge of the tumor nest, in which infiltrating macrophages were always observed. This indicated that CD68 which is a marker of macrophages, was correlated with EMT marker levels. In addition, after being cultured with macrophages for 24 h, the ability of HCC cells to migrate and invade increased, Snail and N-Cadherin expression was upregulated, and E-Cadherin was downregulated. An antibody array assay was applied to analyze the supernatant of these cultures and it demonstrated IL-8 increased significantly in the macrophage co-culture system. Finally, the role of macrophage-derived IL-8 in the invasion of HCC cells was assayed, and downstream signaling pathways were also investigated. We found that IL-8: i) may induce EMT and promote HCC cell migration and invasion and ii) is associated with the JAK2/STAT3/Snail signaling pathway. Taking together, these findings revealed that macrophages that have infiltrated tumors may induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HCC cells via the IL-8 activated JAK2/STAT3/Snail pathway. Thus, this may offer a potential target for developing new HCC therapies.

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