VersicanV1 promotes proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma through the activation of EGFR-PI3K-AKT pathway

Versican has been reported to participate in carcinogenesis in several malignant tumors. However, the accurate role of Versican in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains an enigma. Our current study reveals that VersicanV1, a predominant isoform of Versican in liver, is significantly unregulated in HCC tissues and correlates with poor prognosis. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments show that knockdown of VersicanV1 in HCC cells attenuates cancer cells malignancy. Further studies identify the positive role of VersicanV1 in aerobic glycolysis. Mechanistic investigation discovers the activation of EGFR-PI3K-AKT pathway in HCC cells expressing high VersicanV1. Moreover, EGF-like motif is indispensable for VersicanV1 to promote Warburg effect of HCC cells and subsequently, proliferation, invasion and metastasis ability via activation of EGFR-PI3K-AKT axis. Taken together, our research highlights a novel role of VersicanV1 in the progression of HCC, suggesting that VersicanV1 is an indicator for prognosis and a potential therapeutic target of HCC. Liver cancer cell line Huh7 was transfected with control and VersicanV1 knockdown lentivirus in triplicate. Cell lysis were subjected to RNA sequencing, using Illumina GAIIx