Regorafenib inhibits migration, invasion, and vasculogenic mimicry of hepatocellular carcinoma via targeting ID1-mediated EMT.
Regorafenib is approved for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following sorafenib. However, the effect of regorafenib on HCC metastasis and its mechanism are poorly understood. Here, our data showed that regorafenib significantly restrained the migration, invasion and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) of HCC cells, and downregulated the expression of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)/VM-related molecules. Using RNA-seq and cellular thermal shift assays, we found that inhibitor of differentiation 1 (ID1) was a key target of regorafenib. In HCC tissues, the protein expression of ID1 was positively correlated with EMT and VM formation (CD34- /PAS+ ). Functionally, ID1 knockdown inhibited HCC cell migration, invasion, metastasis, and VM formation in vitro and in vivo, with upregulation of E-cadherin and downregulation of Snail and VE-cadherin. Moreover, Snail overexpression promoted the migration, invasion, and VM formation of ID1 knockdown cells. Snail knockdown reduced the migration, invasion, and VM formation of ID1 overexpression cells. Finally, regorafenib suppressed VM formation and decreased the expression of ID1, VE-cadherin and Snail in HCC PDX model. In conclusion, we manifested that regorafenib distinctly inhibited EMT in HCC cells via targeting ID1, leading to the suppression of cell migration, invasion and VM formation. These findings suggest that regorafenib may be developed as a suitable therapeutic agent for HCC metastasis.
['Zhang|Nan|N|', 'Zhang|Shaoqin|S|', 'Wu|Wenda|W|', 'Lu|Wenxian|W|', 'Jiang|Mingting|M|', 'Zheng|Ning|N|', 'Huang|Jing|J|', 'Wang|Long|L|', 'Liu|Hekun|H|', 'Zheng|Min|M|', 'Wang|Jichuang|J|0000-0001-6519-0771']
D000818:Animals D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular D045744:Cell Line, Tumor D002465:Cell Movement D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic D056945:Hep G2 Cells D006801:Humans D051798:Inhibitor of Differentiation Protein 1 D008113:Liver Neoplasms D008297:Male D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C D008819:Mice, Nude D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic D010671:Phenylurea Compounds D011725:Pyridines D047368:Tumor Burden D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
regorafenib vasculogenic mimicry hepatocellular carcinoma ID1-mediated EMT migration and invasion