title: Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 induced hepatocellular carcinoma cell differentiation.
abstract: To investigate the effect of over-expression of tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) on the differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells (Hep3B and HepG2). The TFPI-2 recombinant adenovirus (pAd-TFPI-2) was constructed using the pAdeasy-1 vector system. Transfected by pAd-TFPI-2, the cell proliferation of HCC cells was evaluated by CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis and CD133 expression. Real-time PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression levels of markers of hepatocellular cancer stem cells (CSC) and hepatocytes. The over-expression of TFPI-2 significantly suppressed cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, and dramatically decreased the percentage of CD133 cells, which was considered as CSC in HCC. Real-time PCR and Western blot showed that the expression of markers of CSC in Hep3B cells and HepG2 cells infected with pAd-TFPI-2 was markedly lower than those of the control group (P< 0.05), while the expression of markers of hepatocytes was significantly increased (P< 0.05). Hence, TFPI-2 could induce the differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells into hepatocytes, and is expected to serve as a novel way for the treatment of HCC.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Ziwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Pingshan People's Hospital, Guangdong 518118, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Changli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Yincui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Zhiguang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tu
keywords: Apoptosis; Cell proliferation; Differentiation; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2