• Quan-Le Zhang, De-An Tian, and Xiang-Jiang Xu.
• Division of Gastroenterology, Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine of Hebei Province, Cangzhou, Hebei Province, China.
• Onkologie. 2011 Jan 1; 34 (10): 526-31.

BackgroundPokemon is a transcription repressor which plays a critical role in cell transformation and malignancy. However, little is known about its effect on the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of Pokemon in human HCC tissues and the biological behavior of Pokemon in HCC cells in which it is overexpressed. We also explored the expression of potential downstream cofactors of Pokemon.Materials And MethodsReverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were used to investigate the expression of Pokemon in tissues of 30 HCC patients. We then examined cell proliferation or apoptosis and β-catenin or H-ras expression in Pokemon-depleted HepG(2) cells using DNA vector-based RNA interference technology.ResultsPokemon was markedly expressed in 22/30 (73.3%) HCC tissues, with expression levels higher than in adjacent normal liver tissues (p < 0.05); expression is correlated with tumor size. In contrast, depletion of Pokemon inhibited proliferation of HepG(2) or induced apoptosis. Also, H-ras expression decreased to a large extent.ConclusionsPokemon exerts its oncogenic activity in the development of HCC by promoting cancer cell growth and reducing apoptosis, and the effect may be mediated by H-ras.Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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