ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the role of cytidine/uridine monophosphate kinase 2( CMPK2) in the immune-mediated antitumor effect of IFNα in hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods RT-qPCR and Western blot were used to analyze the expression of CMPK2 in Huh7 after the treatment of IFNα. The CMPK2 overexpressing Huh7 cells were generated by stably infecting with lentivirus. The ATP level in the cells and the supernatant of CMPK2 overexpress-ing Huh7 cells were measured by CellTiter-Glo ATP fluorescence assay. RT-qPCR was applied to test the expression of inflammatory cytokines in macrophages under the treatment of the supernatant of CMPK2 overexpress-ing Huh7 cells. Results The transcription and protein level of CMPK2 were significantly enhanced after the treat-ment of IFNα for 6 hours ( P＜0.01) . CMPK2 increased the ATP level in the cells and supernatant of Huh7 cells ( P＜0.01) . The supernatant of CMPK2 overexpressing Huh7 cells activated the expression of IL1β, IL6 and CCL5 in macrophages( P＜0.01) . Conclusions IFNα increases the expression of CMPK2 in Huh7 cells to activate the expression of inflammatory cytokines in macrophages.