UTP11 promotes the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma by enhancing the mRNA stability of Oct4.

Background: Several publications suggest that UTP11 may be a promising gene engaged for involvement of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathology. However, there are extremely limited biological, mechanistic and clinical studies of UTP11 in HCC.

Methods: To anayze the UTP11 mRNA expression in HCC and normal clinical samples and further investigate the correlation between UTP11 expression and pathology and clinical prognosis via the Cancer Tissue Gene Atlas (TCGA) database. The protein levels of UTP11 were checked using the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database. GO-KEGG enrichment was performed from Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) database and TCGA dataset. The levels of UTP11 were tested with qRT-PCR and western blotting assays. Cell viability, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry assays and animal models were used to explore the potential involvement of UTP11 in regulating HCC growth in vitro and in vivo. The correlation of UTP11 and tumor stemness scores and stemness-associated proteins from TCGA database. The mRNA stability was treated with Actinomycin D, followed by testing the mRNA expression using qRT-PCR assay.

Results: UTP11 was highly expressed in HCC samples compared to normal tissues from TCGA database. Similarly, UTP11 protein expression levels were obviously elevated in HCC tissue samples from HPA database. Furthermore, UTP11 levels were correlated with poor prognosis in HCC patient samples in TCGA dataset. In addition, the UTP11 mRNA levels was notably enhanced in different HCC cell lines than in normal liver cells and knocking down UTP11 was obviously reduced the viability and cell death of HCC cells. UTP11 knockdown suppressed the tumor growth of HCC in vivo experiment and extended the mice survival time. GO-KEEG analysis from CCLE and TCGA database suggested that UTP11 might involve in RNA splicing and the stability of mRNA. Further, UTP11 was positively correlated with tumor stemness scores and stemness-associated proteins from TCGA database. Knockdown of UTP11 was reduced the expression of stem cell-related genes and regulated the mRNA stability of Oct4.

Conclusions: UTP11 is potentially a diagnostic molecule and a therapeutic candidate for treatment of HCC.