Open Access
ARTICLE
PHF8 Plays an Oncogene Function in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Formation
Hong Ye*, Qing Yang†, Shujie Qi*, Hairong Li‡
* Department of Gastroenterology, Jiaozhou People’s Hospital, Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, P.R. China
† Department of Pathology, Jiaozhou People’s Hospital, Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, P.R. China
‡ Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiaozhou People’s Hospital, Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, P.R. China
Oncology Research 2019, 27(5), 613-621. https://doi.org/10.3727/096504018X15410353669149
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has high morbidity and mortality rates, and the number of new cases and
deaths from liver cancer are increasing. However, the details of the regulation in HCC remain largely unknown.
Plant homeodomain finger protein 8 (PHF8) is a JmjC domain-containing protein. Recently, PHF8 was reported
to participate in several types of cancer. However, the biological function and clinical significance of PHF8 in
HCC remain unknown. In this study, we investigate the role of PHF8 in HCC growth and metastasis. We used
bioinformatics analysis and identified the differentially expressed PHF8 in primary HCC and metastasis HCC.
Immunohistochemistry analysis demonstrated that PHF8 was expressed higher in human HCC tissues than in
corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues. Silencing PHF8 in HCC cells significantly decreased the cells’
ability of proliferation, migration, invasion, and sphere formation. On the contrary, overexpression of PHF8
promoted these properties. In addition, the analysis in vivo showed that PHF8 overexpression promoted tumor
formation and metastasis in nude mice. In the end, the RNA-sequence assay showed that CUL4A is upregulated
by the PHF8. Taken together, these results demonstrated that PHF8 was a novel oncogene in HCC, which may
contribute to therapeutic approaches aimed at targeting components of the PHF8 and provide new insights into
the mechanisms governing the developmental programs in HCC.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Ye, H., Yang, Q., Qi, S., Li, H. (2019). PHF8 Plays an Oncogene Function in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Formation.
Oncology Research, 27(5), 613–621.