title: MYC associated zinc finger protein promotes the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by inducing epithelial mesenchymal transition.
abstract: MYC associated zinc finger protein (MAZ) plays a key role in regulation of gene expression and tumor development. Studies have shown that deregulated expression of MAZ is closely related to the progression of tumors such as glioblastoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer and liposarcoma. However, the role of MAZ in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been fully elucidated. Here, we found that expression of MAZ was increased in HCC and correlated to the distant metastasis of HCC. Moreover, we found that MAZ had a relationship with zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 and 2 (ZEB1 and ZEB2), two important mesenchymal markers in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) that were over-expressed in HCC. After knocking-down MAZ expression in HCC cell lines using RNA interruption, HCC cell proliferation, tumorigenesis, invasion and migration were significantly inhibited. In addition, we found that expression of other EMT markers was also changed besides ZEB1 and ZEB2 by decreasing MAZ expression, both detected in vivo and in vitro assays. Therefore, we conclude that MAZ can promote the invasion and metastasis of HCC by inducing EMT.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaonian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chunhua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bei
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Linyuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xueyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatology, The Affiliated Nanxishan Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatology, The Affiliated Nanxishan Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guifang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541004, Guangxi, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengkui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D000074165:Zinc Finger E-box Binding Homeobox 2 / Q000032:analysis; D000071799:Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1 / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C486307:ZEB1 protein, human; C492363:ZEB2 protein, human; D000074165:Zinc Finger E-box Binding Homeobox 2; D000071799:Zinc Finger E-box-Binding Homeobox 1; C076035:c-MYC-associated zinc finger protein
keywords: MYC associated zinc finger protein (MAZ); epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT); hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1); zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 2 (ZEB2)