HKDC1 Promotes the Tumorigenesis and Glycolysis in Lung Adenocarcinoma Via Regulating AMPK/mTOR Signaling Pathway

Overview

Journal Cancer Cell Int

Publisher Biomed Central

Date 2020 Sep 18

PMID 32943998

Citations 24

Authors

Xinyu Wang

Bowen Shi

Yue Zhao

Qijue Lu

Xiang Fei

Chaojing Lu

Chunguang Li

Hezhong Chen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Hexokinase domain component 1 (HKDC1) plays an oncogenic role in certain types of cancer, such as lymphoma, liver cancer, and breast cancer. Previous bioinformatics study revealed that HKDC1 was significantly upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, its biological functions and potential mechanism in LUAD have not been studied.

Methods: We performed bioinformatics analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and a series of functional assays in vitro and in vivo to investigate the roles of HKDC1 in LUAD.

Results: We discovered that HKDC1 was highly expressed in LUAD tissues and cell lines, and the positive expression of HKDC1 was correlated with aberrant clinicopathological characteristics in LUAD patients. Furthermore, HKDC1 could serve as a prognostic predictor for LUAD patients. Overexpression of HKDC1 promoted proliferation, migration, invasion, glycolysis, EMT and tumorigenicity, whereas knockdown of HKDC1 produced the opposite functional effects. Mechanistically, HKDC1 could regulate the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway to perform its biological function.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HKDC1 plays an oncogenic role in LUAD. Targeting this gene may provide a promising therapeutic target to delay LUAD progression.

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