title: Protein kinase CK2α catalytic subunit is overexpressed and serves as an unfavorable prognostic marker in primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Protein kinase CK2 alpha (CK2α), one isoform of the catalytic subunit of serine/threonine kinase CK2, has been indicated to participate in tumorigenesis of various malignancies. We conducted this study to investigate the biological significances of CK2α expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. Real-time quantitative polymerase and western blotting analyses revealed that CK2α expression was significantly increased at mRNA and protein levels in HCC tissues. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that amplified expression of CK2α was highly correlated with poor prognosis. And functional analyses (cell proliferation and colony formation assays, cell migration and invasion assays, cell cycle and apoptosis assays) found that CK2α promoted cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, as well as inhibited apoptosis in hepatoma cell lines in vitro. CK2α-silenced resulted in significant apoptosis in cells that was demonstrated been associated with downregulation of expression of Bcl-2, p-AKT (ser473) and upregulation of expression of total P53, p-P53, Bax, caspase3 and cleaved-caspase3 in HCC cells. In addition, experiments with a mouse model revealed that the stimulative effect of CK2α on tumorigenesis in nude mice. Our results suggest that CK2α might play an oncogenic role in HCC, and therefore it could serve as a biomarker for prognostic and therapeutic applications in HCC.
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Xia
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shan-Shan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Fei
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zi-Qi
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qiu-Zhong
authors.initials: QZ
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chang-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jing-Jing
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Chuan
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.|Department of Biotherapy, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: De-Sheng
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Weng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000201:enzymology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D047390:Casein Kinase II / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; C570325:CSNK2A1 protein, human; D047390:Casein Kinase II
keywords: CK2α; apoptosis; hepatocellular carcinoma; oncogene; prognosis