Objective To investigate the role of CXCR1/2-CXCL8 signal transduction pathway in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma and the inhibitory effects of G31P on the proliferation, migration, invasion and matastasis of HCC.Methods A total of 50 primary hepatocellular carcinoma tissue samples and their adjacent normal tissue samples were retrieved, and we detected CXCR1/2 expression by IHC and discussed its correlation with clinicopathological factors. The inhibitory effects of 0,10,50 ng/mL G31P on the proliferation, adhesion and matastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cell line Hep-G2 were detected, andthe underlying mechanismwasanalyzed using ECM matrix assay, cell counting kit-8(CCK-8), and Transwell assay.Results Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the protein levels of CXCR1, CXCR2 and CXCL8 also obviously increased in liver biopsy of HCC(P<0.05). The staining intensity of CXCR1, CXCR2 and CXCL8 in tumor tissues was higher than intheir adjacent normal tissues.In addition, the protein levels of CXCR1,CXCR2 and CXCL8 were significantly associated with TNM staging. The results of spearman correlation analysis showed that the expression of CXCR1/2-CXCL8 was related to the expression of phosphorylation (pAKT, pERK), growth and apoptosis (CyclinD1, Bcl-2), invasion and metastasis (MMP-9) indicators.Compared with 0 ng/mL group, the number of cells treated with 50 ng/mL G31P for 24 hours significantly decreased (P<0.05). Compared with 0 ng/mL G31P group, the cell adhesion rate of 10 ng/mL G31P group and 50 ng/mL G31P group was significantly lower (P<0.05). Compared with 0 ng/mL G31P group and 10 ng/mL G31P group, the number of perforating cells in 50 ng/mL G31P group significantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion CXCR1/2-CXCL8 signal transduction pathway plays an important role in the development of HCC.G31P inhibits the proliferation,adhesion and metastasis of Hep-G2 cells in vitro. |