title: MiR200-upregulated Vasohibin 2 promotes the malignant transformation of tumors by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) typically relies on tumor transformation and angiogenesis for its malignant behavior, including growth and metastasis. Previously, we reported that Vasohibin2 (VASH2) is preferentially expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor tissues and promotes angiogenesis. Here, we further investigated the role of VASH2 in HCC tumor progression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bioinformatics analyses and luciferase reporter gene assays confirmed the post-transcriptional regulation of VASH2 by miR-200a/b/c. We then used HepG2 and Hep3B cells, two representative hepatic cancer cell lines, to examine the role of VASH2 in tumors. VASH2 knockdown in HepG2 cells inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), but VASH2 overexpression in Hep3B cells promoted EMT. Western blot analyses showed that VASH2 promoted EMT through the ZEB1/2 pathway.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  VASH2 promoted invasion, reduced apoptosis and increased the proportion of stem cells in vitro and in vivo. These results indicated that VASH2 expression in HCC cells promotes the malignant transformation of tumors by inducing EMT.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. xfxue@suda.edu.cn.|Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China. xfxue@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. zhangye2002520@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China. strexboy@163.com.
authors.forename: Qiaoming
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. tumin1215@sina.com.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. 54387095@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. sunjiefuyang@163.com.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. weijishu@yahoo.com.cn.
authors.forename: Jishu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. surgeonmark@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Zipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. miaoyi@njmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300# Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, China. gao11@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D042501:Angiogenic Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D063646:Carcinogenesis; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells
chemical_list: D042501:Angiogenic Proteins; C533896:MIRN200 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; C574858:VASH2 protein, human