Kinesin family member 2C promotes hepatocellular carcinoma growth and metastasis via activating MEK/ERK pathway

Abstract

The current work was intended to explore the function and mechanism of Kinesin family member 2C (KIF2C) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, KIF2C expression was at a high level in HCC and indicated poor prognosis. Silencing KIF2C significantly suppressed the proliferation, migration and invasion in HCC cells. Furthermore, silencing KIF2C markedly decreased the expression of Snail, Vimentin, p-MEK and p-ERK, but increased E-cadherin expression in HCC cells. Moreover, we also found that MEK/ERK inhibitor U0126 could enhance the impact on cell proliferation, migration and invasion induced by silencing KIF2C in HCC. On the contrary, MEK/ERK activator PAF could weaken the impact induced by silencing KIF2C in HCC. Thus, our findings indicate that KIF2C can promote the proliferation, migration and invasion by activating MEK/ERK pathway in HCC.