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. 2025 Jun;63(3):2299-2311.
doi: 10.1007/s10528-024-10822-5. Epub 2024 May 9.

ARHGAP17 Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression by Inactivation of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

Sirui Fan  1   2 , Hongqing Zhao  3 , Cheng Li  4 , Xing Chen  2 , Mingjie Sun  2 , Fengyang Chen  2 , Chao Long  2 , Yinghui Zhou  2 , Boyuan Nan  2 , Hao Zhao  2 , Wei Zhang  5
Affiliations

ARHGAP17 Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression by Inactivation of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

Sirui Fan et al. Biochem Genet. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

As a member of Rho GAPs family, Rho GTPase-Activating Protein 17 (ARHGAP17) regulates cytoskeletal recombination, cell polarity, cell proliferation and cell migration. ARHGAP17 is identified as a tumor suppressor in numerous cancer types. Current study intends to examine ARHGAP17 expression and its possible influence on the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). ARHGAP17 expression in HCC cells was verified by RT-PCR and western blot. The proliferation and invasion of HCC cells were evaluated by CCK8 assay and transwell assay, respectively. The mRNA expression of ARHGAP17, PCNA, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, β-catenin, GSK-3β, Axin1, and APC were detected by RT-PCR. The protein expression of ARHGAP17, PCNA, E-cadherin, N-cadherin, β-catenin, p-β-catenin, GSK-3β, p-GSK-3β, Axin1, and APC were detected by western blot. ARHGAP17 staining was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. ARHGAP17 expression decreased significantly in HCC tumors and HCC cells after EMT. In response to overexpression of ARHGAP17, the capacities of HCC cell proliferation and invasion were reduced significantly, which were also confirmed by tumorigenesis experiments in vivo. With overexpression of ARHGAP17 in HCC cells, the p-GSK3β/GSK3β decreased, while the p-β-catenin/β-catenin, Axin1 and APC increased. In conclusion, ARHGAP17 inhibits HCC progression by inactivating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Keywords: ARHGAP17; EMT; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Wnt/β-catenin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work. Ethical Approval: Current study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the General Hospital of Northern Theater Command of PLA. Informed Consent: Written informed consent was obtained from the parents. Consent for Publication: The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for publication of the images.

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