Effect of sorafenib on expression of PD-L1 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells
LIU Linsen
LONG Wenting
ZHANG Yue
LIU Shuwang
LIU Liping
Abstract：Objective To investigate the effect of sorafenib on the expression of programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-L1) in the hepatocellular carcinoma cells and the underlying mechanism.Methods Real-time PCR and Western blotting was applied to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of PD-L1 and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in HepG2 cells treated with 0, 2.5, 5, 10 μmol/L sorafenib, respectively.HepG2 cells were transfected with pEGFP-N1-HIF-1α (pEGFP-N1-HIF-1α group), shRNA-HIF-1α (shRNA-HIF-1α group) and the control plasmids including pEGFP-N1 and shRNA-control (pEGFP-N1 group, shRNA-control group), and then the mRNA and protein expression levels of HIF-1α and PD-L1 were detected.Results The mRNA and protein expression levels of PD-L1 and HIF-1α in HepG2 cells were down-regulated after sorafenib intervention in a dose-dependent manner (both P<0.05).Compared with the pEGFP-N1 group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of PD-L1 and HIF-1α increased in the pEGFP-N1-HIF-1α group (both P<0.01).Meanwhile, compared with the shRNA-control group, the mRNA and protein expression levels of PD-L1 and HIF-1α significantly decreased in the shRNA-HIF-1α group (both P<0.01).Conclusions Sorafenib can inhibit the expression of PD-L1 in liver cancer cells through inhibiting HIF-1α signaling pathway.
Keywords：liver neoplasmssorafenibprogrammed cell death ligand 1hypoxia-inducible factor-1α
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Pages：3( 5-7 )