Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer leading to high morbidity and mortality in worldwide. Previous studies revealed that SEC61 translocon alpha 1 subunit1 (SEC61A) can act as an oncogene in colon adenocarcinoma. However, the functions and molecular mechanism associated with HCC progression remain to be explored. This study aimed at exploring the role of SEC61A1 in HCC progression.
Methods: EdU assay and colony formation assay were applied to assess cell proliferation. The migratory ability of transfected HCC cells was evaluated by transwell migration assay. Sphere formation assay was used to detect the stemneess of HCC cells. Bioinformatics analysis tools and mechanism experiments were used to predict and analyze the potential molecular mechanism associated with the upregulation of SEC61A1 in HCC cells.
Results: Up-regulated SEC61A1 facilitated cell proliferation, migration and stemness in HCC cells. MiR-491-5p negatively regulated SEC61A1 and inhibited HCC cell proliferation and migration by targeting SEC61A1. VPS9D1 antisense RNA 1 (VPS9D1-AS1) could up-regulate SEC61A1 through sponging miR-491-5p. Early growth response 1 (EGR1) was identified as the upstream transcriptional activator for both SEC61A1 and VPS9D1-AS1.
Conclusions: Our study unveiled a novel molecular pathway facilitating HCC cell proliferation, migration and stemness, which may shed new insight into HCC treatment.
Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; SEC61A1; VPS9D1-AS1; miR-491-5p.