Silencing of the annexin II gene down- regulates the levels of S100A10, c-Myc, and plasmin and inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion

To explore the roles of annexin II in breast cancer progression, and to study the effect of annexin II on breast cancer cell proliferation and invasion. This study was conducted in the Key Laboratory of Diagnostic Medicine Designated by the Ministry of Education, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China from December 2006 to January 2009. First, we employed Western blot and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to detect the expression of annexin II and S100A10 in a panel of well-characterized human breast cancer cell lines, and investigated the localization of annexin II and S100A10 by use of immunofluorescence. We then silenced the expression of annexin II in MDA-MB-435s, which was found to over express annexin II, using the chemically-synthetic annexin II small interfering RNA [siRNA] duplexes [including 3 groups: blank MDA-MB-435s cells, cells transfected with negative control siRNA, and cells transfected with annexin II-siRNA]. Finally, the cell proliferation, invasion, and plasmin generation were assayed, and the cellular levels of S100A10 and c-Myc were also detected. All the tests were repeated 3 times. Annexin II and S100A10 were over expressed in invasive human breast cancer cell lines. The siRNA targeting annexin II of MDS-MB 435s cells did not only decrease annexin II messenger RNA and protein levels, but also down-regulated the levels of S100A10, and c-Myc. The treated cells were remarkably blocked in the G0/G1 phase, and cells in the S/G2+M phase decreased. Additionally, the treatment with siRNA resulted in reduction of plasmin generation as well as a loss of the invasive capacity of breast cancer cells. Annexin II might be a key contributor to breast cancer proliferation and invasion

Identification of molecular markers for the oncogenic differentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma

The aim of this study was to identify molecular markers associated with oncogenic differentiation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Using an unsupervised clustering method with a cDNA microarray, HCC (T) gene expression profiles and corresponding non-tumor tissues (NT) from 40 patients were analyzed. Of total 217 genes, 72 were expressed preferentially in HCC tissues. Among 186 differentially regulated genes, there were molecular chaperone and tumor suppressor gene clusters in the Edmondson grades I and II (GI/II) subclass compared with the liver cirrhosis (LC) subclass. The Edmondson grades III and IV (GIII/IV) subclass with a poor survival (P = 0.0133) contained 122 differentially regulated genes with a cluster containing various metastasis- and invasion-related genes compared with the GI/II subclass. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that ANXA2, one of the 72 genes preferentially expressed in HCC, was over-expressed in the sinusoidal endothelium and in malignant hepatocytes in HCC. The genes identified in the HCC subclasses will be useful molecular markers for the genesis and progression of HCC. In addition, ANXA2 might be a novel marker for tumor angiogenesis in HCC.