2. Academic Validation
  3. Bmi1 drives the formation and development of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma independent of Ink4A/Arf repression

Bmi1 drives the formation and development of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma independent of Ink4A/Arf repression

  • Pharmacol Res. 2021 Feb;164:105365. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105365.
Jun Guo 1,  Nan Deng 1,  Yong Xu 1,  Lei Li 1,  Dong Kuang 2,  Min Li 3,  Xiaolei Li 4,  Zhong Xu 5,  Ming Xiang 6,  Chuanrui Xu 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
  • 2 Department of Pathology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
  • 3 Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022. China.
  • 4 Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, The 960th Hospital of the PLA, Jinan, 250031, China.
  • 5 Department of Infectious Diseases, Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital, Guiyang, 550002, China.
  • 6 School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 7 School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 33307220 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105365
Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) are the most prevalent types of primary liver Cancer. Compared with HCC, for which several drugs have been approved, ICC is associated with shorter survival, and no drug has been approved for this type. Previously, we reported that Bmi1 drives HCC and is required for HCC development and growth. However, whether Bmi1 plays a critical role in ICC is not clear, although it reportedly is highly expressed in ICC. Therefore, we investigated its role in ICC. Here, we report that Bmi1 promotes ICC initiation and progression independent of the Ink4A/Arf pathway, a canonical downstream pathway of Bmi1. We found that Bmi1 is overexpressed in human ICC. Co-expression of Bmi1 and NRas induced ICC formation in mice. Knockdown or inactivation of Bmi1 inhibited ICC growth in vitro. Liver-specific knockout or inactivation of Bmi1 remarkably suppressed ICC tumor formation and development in vivo. Mechanistically, no correlation between Bmi1 and Ink4A/Arf levels was found in mouse and human ICC tissues. Together, our data indicate that Bmi1 functions as an oncogene independent of repression of the Ink4A/Arf locus in ICC and that it can serve as a target for ICC treatment.

Keywords

Bmi1; Ink4A/Arf; Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

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