Artemin is hypoxia responsive and promotes oncogenicity and increased tumor initiating capacity in hepatocellular carcinoma

• Published in: Oncotarget Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 3267 - 3282
• Main Authors: Zhang, Min, Zhang, Weijie, Wu, Zhengsheng, Liu, Shumin, Sun, Linchong, Zhong, Yanghao, Zhang, Xiao, Kong, Xiangjun, Qian, Pengxu, Zhang, Huafeng, Lobie, Peter E, Zhu, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Impact Journals LLC 19.01.2016
• Subjects: Animals; Apoptosis; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - genetics; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - metabolism; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - pathology; Cell Proliferation; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - metabolism; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - pathology; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Humans; Hypoxia - physiopathology; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - genetics; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - metabolism; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Liver Neoplasms - genetics; Liver Neoplasms - metabolism; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Nude; Neoplastic Stem Cells - metabolism; Neoplastic Stem Cells - pathology; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Nerve Tissue Proteins - metabolism; Prognosis; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Research Paper; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - genetics; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays; hypoxia; cancer stem cell; ARTN; hepatocellular carcinoma

Hypoxia has been reported to regulate the cancer stem cell (CSC) population yet the underlying mechanism is poorly characterized. Herein, we show that Artemin (ARTN), a member of the glial cell derived neurotrophic factor family of ligands, is a hypoxia-responsive factor and is essential for hypoxia...