title: RRAD inhibits aerobic glycolysis, invasion, and migration and is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent and lethal cancer worldwide. However, the mechanism underlying the HCC development remains unclear. Ras-related associated with diabetes (RRAD) is a small Ras-related GTPase which has been implicated in metabolic disease and several types of cancer, yet its functions in HCC remain unknown. A tissue microarray constructed by 90 paired HCC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues was used to examine the protein levels of RRAD, and the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of RRAD was also detected in a subset of this cohort. The prognostic significance of RRAD was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression. The glucose utilization assay and lactate production assay were performed to measure the role of RRAD in HCC glycolysis. The effect of RRAD in HCC invasion and metastasis was analyzed by transwell assays. Our results suggested that the expression of RRAD was downregulated in HCC tissues compared to the adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues both in mRNA and protein levels and lower RRAD expression served as an independent prognostic indicator for the survival of HCC patients. Moreover, RRAD inhibited hepatoma cell aerobic glycolysis by negatively regulating the expression of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and hexokinase II (HK-II). In addition, RRAD inhibition dramatically increased hepatoma cell invasion and metastasis. In conclusion, our study revealed that RRAD expression was decreased in HCC tumor tissues and predicted poor clinical outcome for HCC patients and played an important role in regulating aerobic glycolysis and cell invasion and metastasis and may represent potential targets for improving the treatment of HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Runze
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhuochao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xisheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shibin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kaishan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China. gdwkgwx@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kefeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 127 West Changle Street, Xi'an, Shaan xi, 710032, People's Republic of China. hepato@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Desheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000332:Aerobiosis; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006019:Glycolysis / Q000235:genetics; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006593:Hexokinase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D018631:ras Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; C084355:RRAD protein, human; C495677:SLC2A1 protein, human; D006593:Hexokinase; D018631:ras Proteins
keywords: Aerobic glycolysis; Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); Prognostic factor; RRAD; Tumor progression