Knockdown of interferon‑stimulated gene 15 affects the sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells to norcantharidin

Chen,Baoxiang; Jin,Shuqiang; Bai,Bin; Li,Zhi; Ni,Caifang; Liu,Yansen

doi:10.3892/etm.2019.8028

Knockdown of interferon‑stimulated gene 15 affects the sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells to norcantharidin

Authors:
- Baoxiang Chen
- Shuqiang Jin
- Bin Bai
- Zhi Li
- Caifang Ni
- Yansen Liu
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Affiliations: Department of Interventional Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China, Department of Interventional Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150086, P.R. China, Department of Interventional Radiology, Inner Mongolia Forestry General Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical School of Inner Mongolia University for The Nationalities, Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia 022150, P.R. China
Published online on: September 19, 2019 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2019.8028
Pages: 3751-3758
Copyright: © Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Interferon‑stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) serves a crucial role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. The present study explored the effect of ISG15 knockdown on the sensitivity of HCC cells to norcantharidin. The expression of ISG15 in HCC tissues and cell lines was assessed by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Pearson's χ2 test was conducted to analyze the correlation between the clinicopathological features and ISG15 expression of patients with HCC. In addition, HCC cells were transfected with small interfering RNA against ISG15, ISG15 overexpression plasmid or respective negative controls. Cell proliferation, clonogenic ability and apoptosis were examined by Cell Counting Kit‑8, colony formation and Annexin V/propidium iodide staining assays, respectively. Protein expression was assessed by western blot analysis. The results revealed that ISG15 was overexpressed in HCC tissues, and that ISG15 expression was positively correlated with HCC differentiation and metastasis. Downregulation of ISG15 increased the sensitivity of HCC cells to norcantharidin, and norcantharidin treatment reversed the tumor‑promoting effects of ISG15 overexpression exerted in HCC cells. Furthermore, the expression levels of apoptosis‑associated proteins were regulated by ISG15 and norcantharidin. Taken together, the observed increase in the sensitivity of HCC cells to norcantharidin was facilitated by ISG15 knockdown and may provide novel insights for HCC therapy.

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