Liver cancer is one of the most serious cancers all over the world. Liver tumor initiating cells (TICs) account for tumor initiation and metastasis. However, the regulatory mechanism of liver TICs remains unclear. Here we found long noncoding RNA SAMMSON is highly expressed in liver cancer and liver TICs. SAMMSON silenced cells show impaired self-renewal capacity, while, its overexpression induces enhanced self-renewal. SAMMSON drives the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and thus promotes liver TIC self-renewal. SAMMSON interacts with EZH2, a core component of PRC2 complex, and inhibits the expression of CTNNBIP1 through EZH2 dependent manner. SAMMSON binds to CTNNBIP1 promoter and recruits EZH2 to CTNNBIP1 promoter. What's more, targeting liver TICs through SAMMSON, EZH2 and Wnt/β-catenin signaling impaired liver TIC self-renewal, decreased tumor propagation and severity. Taken together, SAMMSON drives liver TIC self-renewal through EZH2-dependent Wnt/β-catenin activation.
Keywords: EZH2; SAMMSON; Wnt/β-catenin; liver TICs; self-renewal.