UNLABELLED Type I interferons (IFN) have been shown to play an important role for inhibiting Dengue virus (DENV) infection. Identifying IFN-induced cellular proteins are essential for understanding its mechanisms against DENV. Here we established stable Huh7-derived cell lines expressing the IFN-induced cell membrane protein BST2 (Huh7-BST2) or its variant bearing a V5 tag at the C-terminal (Hu...

The insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) overexpression contributes to the development of a variety of cancers. The present study explored the role of IGF-1R in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the possibility of IGF-1R silencing by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) as a therapeutic target for HCC. We showed that IGF-1R mRNA was up-regula...

Bone metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) seem to be increasing. Previous studies showed that soluble factors secreted by host cells and direct cell-to-cell interactions contributed to the preferential metastasis and growth of cancer cells in bone, while the underlying mechanism(s) of the metastasis of HCC in the bone are poorly understood. Here, we determined the effect of HS-5 cells...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Hepatitis B or C infections are the main causes of HCC with hepatitis C being the major risk factor for liver cancer in the developed countries. Recently, complications with bacteria of the genus Helicobacter have been associated with HCV-induced HCC. To further understand the mechanisms leading to t...

BACKGROUND Lipocalin 2 (LCN2), a protein primarily produced by hepatocytes, is highly upregulated under various conditions that induce cellular stress, such as intoxication, infection or inflammation. However, the precise biological functions and underlying mechanisms of LCN2 in hepatocytes remains unknown. METHODS Hepatocyte stress was successfully induced by treating Huh7 cells with interle...

Evidence from clinical and laboratory studies has accumulated indicating that the activation of the cannabinoid system is crucial for steatosis, especially in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, the association between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the cannabinoid system has not been well investigated and it is unclear whether steatosis in chronic hepatitis C develops via activa...

Although the infiltration of mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (MSCs) into different tumors is widely recognized in animal models, the question whether these MSCs have a positive or negative effect on disease progression remains unanswered. The aim of this study is to investigate whether human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) harbors MSCs and whether these MSCs affect tumor growth. We observed tha...

There are increasing pieces of evidence suggesting that the recurrence of cancer may result from a small subpopulation of cancer stem cells, which are resistant to the conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We investigated the effects of Chinese herbal mixture Tien-Hsien Liquid (THL) on the cancer stem-like side population (SP) cells isolated from human hepatoma cells. After sorting and su...

BACKGROUND The biology of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV), a common cause of epidemic and sporadic hepatitis, is still being explored. HEV exits liver through bile, a process which is essential for its natural transmission by feco-oral route. Though the process of this polarised HEV egress is not known in detail, HEV pORF3 and hepatocyte actin cytoskeleton have been shown to play a role. METHODS Our ...

The anticancer activities of gambogic acid (GA) on two hepatocellular carcinoma cells with either p53 deletion (Hep3B) or p53 mutation (Huh7) were investigated in the present study. GA inhibited the growth of Hep3B and Huh7 through similar apoptotic pathways. After treatment of Hep3B and Huh7 with GA for 24 h, the IC₅₀ was determined for both cell lines at 1.8 and 2.2 µM, respectively. The resu...