Published online Mar 15, 2020. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v12.i3.276
Peer-review started: October 23, 2019
First decision: November 18, 2019
Revised: November 24, 2019
Accepted: December 23, 2019
Article in press: December 23, 2019
Published online: March 15, 2020
As one of the most frequent cancers, the morbidity and mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is increasing year by year. The kinesin superfamily protein member KIF21B plays an important role in regulating mitotic progression; however, the function and mechanisms of KIF21B in cancer, particularly in HCC, are unknown.
To explore the role of KIF21B in hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinical significance.
The study aimed to investigate the function of KIF21B in HCC and its effect on prognosis after hepatectomy.
First, we analyzed the differential expression of KIF21B in The Cancer Genome Atlas, and used immunohistochemical staining to validate it. Subsequently, after silencing KIF21B expression, the function of KIF21B in HCC lines was investigated by cell growth assay, MTT assay, fluorescence-activated cell sorting assay, and colony formation assay. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to assess its prognostic significance.
KIF21B expression levels were significantly higher in HCC tissues. Functional experiments showed that KIF21B knockdown remarkably suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. Statistical analyses revealed KIF21B as an independent risk factor in patients with HCC after hepatectomy.
KIF21B plays an important role in HCC progression and may be a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for HCC.
In the future, more studies are needed to determine the effect that KIF21B may have on other tumor cell lines and to investigate the underlying mechanism.