ABSTRACT
Objective To examine the role of c-Src activation in hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in liver cancer.Methods SMMC-7721 liver cancer cells were transfected with HBx gene to induce EMT and the activated c-Src expression was evaluated by Western blot.Both the morphological changes and the epithelial and mesenchymal markers expression (real-time PCR,western blot and immunocytochemistry) of HBx-transfected SMMC-7721 cell treated by c-Src kinase inhibitor PP2 and negative control PP3 were observed and compared,respectively.Results The activated c-Src expression in HBx gene transfected SMMC-7721 cells was significantly increased compared to that in mock transfected cells,c-Src kinase inhibitor PP2 could enable the HBx-transfected SMMC-7721 cells to transmit from spindle-like shape to original epithelial morphology.Western blot and immunocytochemistry confirmed that the expression of epithelial markers and mesenchymal markers almost returned to the levels of parental cells,indicating the mesenchymal-epithelial transition.Conclusions c-Src activation plays a key role in the process of EMT induced by HBx protein in SMMC-7721 cells.