Holliday junction recognition protein promotes pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis via modulation of the MDM2/p53 signaling

• Published in: Cell death & disease Vol. 11; no. 5; p. 386
• Main Authors: Wang, Chen-Jing, Li, Xin, Shi, Ping, Ding, Hai-Yan, Liu, Yan-Ping, Li, Ting, Lin, Ping-Ping, Wang, Yun-Shan, Zhang, Guo-Qing, Cao, Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Springer Nature B.V 21.05.2020; Nature Publishing Group UK
• Subjects: Animal models; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal - metabolism; Cell Movement - physiology; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - physiology; Chromatin; DNA, Cruciform; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic - genetics; Histone H3; Humans; Immunoblotting; Immunofluorescence; Immunohistochemistry; Immunoprecipitation; MDM2 protein; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Metastasis; Neoplasm Metastasis - pathology; p53 Protein; Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic Neoplasms; Pancreatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Pancreatic Neoplasms - pathology; Plasmids; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2 - metabolism; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 - metabolism; Xenografts
• ISSN: 2041-4889; 2041-4889
• DOI: 10.1038/s41419-020-2595-9

Holliday junction recognition protein (HJURP) refers to a histone H3 chaperone that has been implicated in different kinds of malignancies. Yet, its character in pancreatic cancer remains unclear. The expression of HJURP was assessed in PDAC tissues by RT-qPCR, immunoblotting, and immunohistochemistry. HJURP-deficient or overexpressed PDAC cell lines were constructed, using shRNA or plasmids with HJURP insert. MTT, sphere formation assay, migration, and invasion assays were performed to evaluate the viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion of PDAC cells. We used xenograft mice models to assess the tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. RNA-seq was applicated in search of the potential downstream target of HJURP in PDAC and subsequent verification were fulfilled via multiple assays, including immunofluorescence. Additionally, chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assay were conducted to explore the potential regulation of MDM2 expression by HJURP through H3K4me2. In this current research, we found that the expression of HJURP in PDAC cells and tissue was significantly higher than those of adjacent normal tissue, and high HJURP expression predicted poor survival. HJURP significantly promoted the viability, sphere formation, migration, and invasion of PDAC cells in vitro, HJURP also facilitated tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Mechanically, MDM2/p53 axis is critical for HJURP-mediated malignant behaviors in PDAC, and HJURP regulates MDM2 expression through H3K4me2. HJURP could serve as a promising biomarker, and target for PDAC prognosis and treatment.