The Chromosome 19 MicroRNA Cluster Facilitates Cancer Stemness in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Background/Objectives: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the world's deadliest cancers; however,, however, the mechanisms that contribute to its aggressiveness are poorly understood. In the recent literatureIn recent literature, overexpression of the Chro-mosome 19 MicroRNA Cluster (C19MC) has been associated with an aggressive pheno-type and unfavorable prognosis in HCC. However, the molecular consequences of C19MC overexpression in HCC remain poorly understood. Methods: Here, we created a constitu-tive C19MC-overexpressing HCC model and used two different CRISPR-engineered C19MC-overexpressing HCC models to analyze phenotype and transcriptomic changes. Results: We observed that C19MC -overexpression induces Ccancer Sstem Ccell (CSC) phenotypic features in vitro, and analyzed transcriptomic changes in genes correlating with stemness, such as NF?B and EMT. Conclusions: C19MC induces changes in HCC that are consistent with stemness and aggression, which provides a better understanding of why C19MC could be a biomarker of poor prognosis.