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The suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) inhibits tumor metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and its incidence continues to increase. However, the mechanism underlying the development and progression of HCC remains unknown. The suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) is a member of the SOCS family and influences the carcinogenesis of multiple types of tumors, but the biological roles of SOCS2 in HCC remain unclear. In this study, we found that SOCS2 expression was reduced in HCC tissues compared with matched noncancerous liver tissues. Moreover, decreased SOCS2 expression was significantly associated with the presence of intrahepatic metastasis and high histological grade in HCC patients. Colony formation assays and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays demonstrated that overexpression of SOCS2 or knockdown of endogenous SOCS2 did not significantly affect cell proliferation and tumorigenicity in HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. However, SOCS2 overexpression significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of HCC cells in vitro and inhibited metastasis in vivo. Consistent with these findings, the knockdown of endogenous SOCS2 enhanced migration and invasion in HCC cells in vitro. Our study demonstrated that SOCS2 inhibited human HCC metastasis, and SOCS2 might provide a new potential therapeutic strategy for treating HCC.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by grants from the National KeySci-Tech Special Project of China (2013ZX10002-011), National Natural Science Foundation of China (81201623, 81372192), Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (13ZZ082), Key Discipline and Specialty Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, and the SKLORG Research foundation (91-12-04, 91-13-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Meiling Cui, Jianjing Hou, Tao Fang, Chao Ge, Fangyu Zhao, Ming Yao, Jinjun Li & Hong Li

  2. Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Ji Sun & Xin Wang

  3. Qi Dong Liver Cancer Institute, Qi Dong, 226200, China

    Taoyang Chen

  4. Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310003, China

    Haiyang Xie

  5. Cancer Institute of Guangxi, Nanning, 530027, China

    Ying Cui

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  1. Meiling Cui
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  2. Ji Sun
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  4. Tao Fang
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  13. Hong Li
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Correspondence to Hong Li.

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Taoyang Chen, Haiyang Xie and Ying Cui contributed equally to this work.

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Cui, M., Sun, J., Hou, J. et al. The suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) inhibits tumor metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma. Tumor Biol. 37, 13521–13531 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5215-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5215-7

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