Background
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also called hepatoma, is the most frequent type of primary liver cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide, which caused over 600,000 deaths per year [
1]. Invasion and metastasis are the most critical reason for the poor prognosis of HCC patients [
2].
Glucose-regulated protein 78(GRP78) is present at a basal level in normal tissues. However it is overexpressed in almost all the human cancers and plays important role in anti-apoptotic process of cancer cells [
3]. GRP78, which has been regarded as a endoplasmic reticulum(ER) chaperone previously, is a multifunctional protein [
4,
5]. Recently, lots of data have demonstrated that Grp78 is involved in the regulation of invasion and metastasis of many human cancers including breast, prostate, gastric, lung, liver cancers [
6‐
10]. Although we have reported that GRP78 facilitates the invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells, whether GRP78 plays a role in ECM degradation is still not determined.
The invasion and metastasis of cancer cells is a complex process which is mainly determined by the following events: (1) extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, (2) the arrangement of cytoskeleton, (3) cell polarity formation [
11‐
13]. These processes are tightly regulated by temporally and spatially regulated expression and activation of many signal molecules including focal adhesion kinase (FAK), Src, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) [
14,
15].
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of related zinc-dependent proteinases that degrade most extracellular matrix [
16]. So far, nearly 20 members of the MMP family that share common structural and functional elements have been identified [
17]. Among them, MMP-2 and MMP-9 are the most concerned and their functions have been well-characterized. They are believed to play important role in the invasive process and high level expression or activation of MMPs is associated with the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells [
18]. The activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 is regulated by many factors. Recent studies have revealed that the membrane type metalloproteinases (MT-MMP) and the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) play coordinately in the regulation of MMPs activity. MMP-2 is activated by complexing with MT-MMP1 (MMP14) and TIMP-2. However, MMP-9 is activated by binding with TIMP-1 [
19‐
21].
In this article, we knockdown GRP78 level in hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC7721, and explored the effect of Grp78 knockdown on the ECM degradation and the underlying mechanism.
Discussion
In this study, we show that knockdown of GRP78 reduces the invasiveness and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells SMMC7721, and we identify a molecular mechanism involving FAK-Src-JNK-c-Jun-MMP2 signaling pathway in these effects. These data point to a potential antitumor target for GRP78 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
We choose hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC7721 for the establishment of in vitro invasion and metastasis model according to the expression levels of GRP78, MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-14 and TIMP-2. We first demonstrate that knockdown of GRP78 inhibited the invasion and metastasis in SMMC7721. Many data have revealed that cell proliferation affected the outcomes of both transwell assay and wound healing assay, it is essential to examine whether GRP78 knockdown affected the proliferation of SMMC7721. In our research, we demonstrated that GRP78 knockdown do not have influence on tumor cells at the first 24 h. Taken together, these results suggested that knockdown of GRP78 decreased the invasion and metastasis of SMMC7721 and this inhibitory effect was not dependent on the proliferation of tumor cells.
Abnormal expression of MMPs is believed to play an important role in tumor cell invasion and metastasis in human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma [
23].Among the MMPs, the roles of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the invasiveness and metastasis of cancer cells are well characterized. In our study, we show that GRP78 knockdown reduced the expression and activity of MMP-2 in SMMC7721 cells. Although we detected MMP-9 expression by RT-PCR and western blot, we do not detect the secretion and activity of MMP-9 in SMMC7721. To elucidated this question, we examined the activities of MMP-9 in four hepatocellular carcinoma tissue samples by gelatin zymograph assay. MMP9 activities can be detected in all the four tissue samples. Since tissue samples are composed of cancer cells and surrounding non-cancer cells,which is the components of tumor microenvironment, we think that MMP-9 is secreted mainly by the non-cancer cell in tumor microenvironment.
Many data have demonstrated that MMP-14 and TIMP-2 activates pro-MMP-2 by forming a complex with TIMP-2 and pro-MMP-2. We found that GRP78 knockdown reduced the expression of MMP-14 and TIMP-2, indicating that knockdown of GRP78 decreased the expression of the members of the MMP-2 activating complex.
In this article, we further investigate the signaling mechanisms involved in the reduced MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities. Mitogen-activated protein kinases(MAPKs) are key signaling molecules controlling MMPs which is modulated large part by FAK-Src signaling pathway. We found that knockdown of GRP78 decreased the phosphorylation of JNK and ERK1/2. This is supported by our results that GRP78 knockdown downregulated the activity of FAK and Src. AP-1 complex which consists of c-Jun and c-fos plays important roles in several cellular processes. AP-1 complex translocated into the nucleus and activated the promoters containing AP-1 binding sites including the MMP-2 promoter when c-Jun was phosphorylated by JNK. Our finding that GRP78 knockdown decreased the phosphorylation of c-Jun and inhibited the translocation of AP-1 complex into nucleus. These data suggested that c-Jun was the downstream transcription factor in the reduced MMP2 activity caused by GRP78 knockdown.
Overall, our data revealed a mechanism by which GRP78 knockdown inhibits the ECM degradation and the activity and expression of MMP-2. JNK-c-Jun signaling pathway play important role in this process. This finding suggested that GRP78 may be a potential target for the prevention of the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Materials and methods
Antibodies
The primary antibodies used were: GRP78 (sc-1051), GRP94 (sc-1794), MMP-2 (CST-4022), MMP-9 (CST-3852), MMP-14 (ab3644), TIMP-1 (CST-8946), TIMP-2 (sc-21735), FAK (396500, Biosource), FAK-pY397 (44625 G, Biosource), JNK (sc-7345), Src(CST-2123), Src-pY416(CST-6943), p-JNK (sc-6354), c-Jun (CST-9165), p-c-Jun (CST-9261). HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies were purchased from Zhongshan Company (Beijing, China).
Cell culture
Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC7721 and HepG2 were purchased from the Type Culture Collection of Chinese Academy of Science. The cells were propagated in complete DMEM medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum(FBS), 2 mM glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin, 100ug/ml streptomycin at 37°C, 5% CO2 -95% O2 and passaged every 3–5 days.
GRP78-shRNAs transfection into SMMC-7721
The pEGFP-N1-GRP78-shRNAs were purchased from the Genechem Company (Shanghai, China). The sequences were shown as follows, all sequences were provided in 5’ → 3’ direction:
1th: Sense: caGCATCAAGCAAGAATTGAA
Antisense: TTCAATTCTTGCTTGATGCtg
2th: Sense: gaCCTGGTACTGCTTGATGTA
Antisense: TACATCAAGCAGTACCAGGtc
3th: Sense: aaGGAGCGCATTGATACTAGA
Antisense: TCTAGTATCAATGCGCTCCtt
4th: Sense: aaGCAACCAAAGACGCTGGAA
Antisense: TTCCAGCGTCTTTGGTTGCtt
Transfection was performed using Lipofectamine™ 2000(Invitrogen) as the manufacture’s instruction. Briefly, the logarithmically growing cells were plated in 6-well plate in 2000 μl of DMEM complete growth medium without antibiotics and with serum. After 24 h, 10 μl of Lipofectamine™ 2000 was diluted to 250 μl by serum-free medium, mixed with DNA solution (4 μg DNA in 250 μl serum-free medium) in a sterile 1.5 ml EP tube and incubated for 30 min at room temperature. The mixture was added drop by drop into each well, incubated for 72 h under normal cell culture conditions. pEGFP-N1 was transfected at the same time as control. The transfection efficiency was observed by fluorescent microscope and the effect of GRP78-shRNAs was determined by western blot.
Establishment of cells that stably expressing GRP78-shRNAs
Selection of SMMC-7721 cells stably expressing GRP78-shRNAs was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions (Invitrogen). Briefly, the complete growth medium containing GRP78-shRNAs were replaced by the selection medium containing G418 (Gibco, 400 μg/ml) after 48 h of transfection. The selection medium was replaced every 3–4 days, the clones that stably expressing GRP78-shRNAs were picked, expanded, cultured in the medium containing 200 μg/ml of G418, and identified by western blot and RT-PCR.
RNA extraction and RT-PCR analysis
Total RNA was isolated using Trizol (Invitrogen) according to the manufacture’s recommendation. 2 μg of total RNA from each samples were reverse transcribed using oligo(dT) primers at 37°C for 90 min. The relative mRNA levels were evaluated by quantitative PCR using SYBR green PCR kit (Takara). The signals were normalized to 18 S as internal control. The primers were as follows:
MMP-2 Forward, 5’-ATAACCTGGATGCCGTCGT-3’
Reverse, 5’- AGGCACCCTTGAAGAAGTAGC-3’
MMP-9 Forward, 5’-GACAGGCAGCTGGCAGAG-3’ Reverse,5’-CAGGGACAGTTGCTTCTGG-3’
MMP-14 Forward,5’-CTGTCAGGAATGCTC-3’
Reverse, 5’-AGGGGTCACTTGAATGCTC-3’
TIMP-2 Forward, 5’-GAAGAGCCTGAACCACAGGT-3’
Reverse, 5’-CGGGGAGGAGATGTAAGCAC-3’
18 S Forward, 5’-TCAAGAACGAAAGTCGGAGG-3’
Reverse, 5’-GGACATCTAAGGGCATCACA-3’
Western blot-analysis
Cells were washed, harvested, lysed by lysis buffer (150 mM NaCl, 1% NP-40, 1% SDS, 1 mM PMSF, 10ug/ml Leupeptin, 1 mM Aprotinin,50 mM Tris-Cl, pH 7.4) on ice for 30 min and centrifuged at 12,000 g at 4°C for 10 min. The supernatants were quantified for protein concentration by BCA assay. Equal amounts of protein were loaded (50 μg per lane) and separated by 10% SDS-PAGE, transferred to PVDF membrane. The membrane was blocked with 5% non-fat milk for 2 h, incubated with a specific antibody (1:1000 dilution) for 3 h, stained with appropriate secondary antibody conjugated with HRP (1:2000 dilution) for 30 min at room temperature. After final washes, the membrane was developed using ECL reagent (Pierce, France). The levels of target proteins were normalized to β-Actin.
Transwell invasion and wound healing assays
Cells were harvested and seeded onto the fibronectin-coated, porous upper chamber inserts (105 per well) and allowed to invade for 48 h. After 48 h, the inserts were inverted and stained with Hochest33258. Three fields were randomly chosen and the numbers of invaded cells were counted. The invasion potentiality of the GRP78 knockdown cells was measured by the average value of penetrated cells in three fields. For wound healing assay, the monolayer was carefully wounded by sterile pipette and washed with PBS for three times to remove the debris. The wounded monolayer was cultured in DMEM containing 1% BSA for 24 h, and photographed by microscope (×100). The status of wound closure was evaluated by inverted microscope.
Cell proliferation assay
Cells were seeded in 96-well culture plate at a density of 5 × 104/ml, 100 μl each well. The status of cell viability were monitored every 24 h. Briefly, the cells were washed with PBS for 3 times, 100 μl sterilized MTT solution (0.5 mg/ml) were added into each well and the cells were incubated for 4 h in normal culture condition. After incubation, 100 μl DMSO were added to each well, and the culture plate was vortexed for 2-3 min to fully dissolve the crystallization. Finally, the absorbance at 562 nm was measured using microplate reader.
FITC- Gelatin degradation assay
FITC-gelatin degradation assay was performed as the manufacture’s procedure (Invitrogen). In brief, coverslips (18-mm diameter) were coated with 50ug/ml poly-L-lysine for 20 min at room temperature, washed with PBS, fixed with 0.5% glutaraldehyde for 15 min and washed with PBS for 3 times. After washing, the coverslips were inverted on a drop of 0.2% FITC conjugated gelatin in PBS containing 2% sucrose, incubated for 10 min at room temperature, washed with PBS for 3 times, quenched with sodium borohydride (5 mg/ml) for 3 min and finally incubated in 2 ml of complete medium for 2 h. Cells (2 × 105 each well) were plated in FITC gelatin-coated coverslips, incubated at 37°C for 12 hr. The ECM degradation status was evaluated and photographed by inverted fluorescent microscope.
Gelatin zymography
The Conditioned medium was collected and concentrated for 2-fold by centrifugal concentrator. Equal amounts of protein were loaded and separated by 10% polyacrylamide gel containing 1 g/L gelatin. The gels were re-natured in 2.5% Triton-X-100 with gentle agitation for 30 min at room temperature. The gel was pretreated by developing buffer (5 mM CaCl2, 50 mM Tris, and 0.2 mM NaCl, 0.02% Brij35 (pH 7.5)) for 30 min at room temperature, then developed in developing buffer overnight at 37°C, stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 for 30 minutes and destained with destaining solution. The protease activity was analyzed by gel imaging and analysis system.
Statistical analysis
The results were represented as ± SE. Difference between two experimental groups was evaluated by the students’t test and differences among groups were analyzed using One-Way ANOVA. P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Competing interests
We have no financial or other conflicts of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of our study.
Authors’ contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: Rongjian Su, Junsheng Luo. Performed the experiments: Hongdan Li, Huijuan Song, Jia Liang and Song Zhao. Analyzed the data: Hongdan Li and Huijuan Song. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.