T‑cell immunoglobulin mucin‑3 as a potential inducer of the epithelial‑mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma

Lin,Huapeng; Yang,Bin; Teng,Mujian

doi:10.3892/ol.2017.6961

T‑cell immunoglobulin mucin‑3 as a potential inducer of the epithelial‑mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma

Authors:
- Huapeng Lin
- Bin Yang
- Mujian Teng
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Affiliations: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Qianfoshan Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250014, P.R. China, Department of Hepatobiliary and Vascular Surgery, Jining No. 1 People's Hospital, Jining, Shandong 272001, P.R. China
Published online on: September 15, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6961
Pages: 5899-5905
Copyright: © Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

T‑cell immunoglobulin mucin (TIM)‑3 is an important member of the TIM gene family, which was thought to contribute to the progression of numerous types of cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the mechanism underlying TIM‑3 functions in HCC progression has not yet been extensively investigated. The present study aimed to investigate the function of TIM‑3 in the metastasis of HCC and to determine whether the alteration of TIM‑3 expression levels regulated the epithelial‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurrence of HCC, using epithelial (E)‑cadherin, neuronal (N)‑cadherin, matrix metallopeptidase‑9 (MMP‑9), Twist 1, Slug, Snail, and Smad as EMT biomarkers. The results demonstrated that upregulation of TIM‑3 using TIM‑3 lentiviral activation particles (5 µl) increased cell migration and invasion, which was decreased in TIM‑3 short interfering RNA‑infected cells (10 µM, 3 µl) correspondingly. SMMC‑7721 HCC cells were used as the control. EMT was aggravated in TIM‑3 upregulated SMMC‑7721 cells, which was attenuated in the TIM‑3 interference group, accompanied by an alteration of E‑cadherin, N‑cadherin, MMP‑9, Twist 1, Slug, Snail and Smad expression levels. The data presented suggests that TIM‑3 serves an essential role in the metastasis of HCC, the mechanism of which was associated with EMT occurrence. Interference of TIM‑3 is expected to be an effective means to prevent and control EMT, and further the metastasis of HCC.

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