DEXUE FAN1,#, WEI SU2,#, ZHAOWEN BI3, XINXING WANG1, XIANWEN XU1, MINGZE MA4, LICHAO ZHU5, ZHENHAI ZHANG1,3,*, JUNLIN GAO2,*
Oncology Research, Vol.33, No.6, pp. 1459-1472, 2025, DOI:10.32604/or.2025.060407
- 29 May 2025
Abstract Objectives: Apatinib has been reported to be a promising treatment for sorafenib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, the underlying mechanism remains ambiguous. The study aimed to explore the efficacy of apatinib in sorafenib-resistant HCC and the underlying mechanism both in vitro and in vivo. Methods: After observing epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) changes in HepG2 and HepG2/Sorafenib cells, we treated them with varying concentrations of apatinib to assess its impact on sorafenib-resistant HCC. Subsequently, specific inhibitors of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK, SP600125) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK, PD98059) were introduced to investigate whether apatinib influenced sorafenib-resistant HCC via modulation… More >