Effects of LAIR‐1 on hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and invasion via PI3K‐AKT‐mTOR pathway regulation

INTRODUCTION: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the common malignant tumors. Although surgical resection is the best treatment for HCC, many patients with HCC are found to have metastases at the time of initial diagnosis and lose the opportunity for radical treatment. Therefore, the study of the invasion and metastasis of HCC has always been the focus of HCC research. This study aimed to assess the influence of LAIR‐1 on HCC cell proliferation and invasion and the relevant mechanisms involved in this process. METHODS: Immunocytochemical staining assay, quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) and western blotting (WB) were used to detect the expression of LAIR‐1mRNA and protein in healthy human hepatocyte LO2 and the HCC cell lines HepG2, Bel‐7402, MHCC97‐H, and Huh‐7. Then, we evaluated the cell viability, colony formation, and invasion of MHCC97‐H and Huh‐7 cells in each group by silencing or overexpressing LAIR‐1 expression in MHCC97‐H and Huh‐7 cells, respectively. WB was used to detect the expression levels of PI3K‐AKT‐mTOR pathway related proteins. RESULTS: Our findings showed that LAIR‐1 can inhibit cell viability, colony formation and invasion in vitro. Meanwhile, LAIR‐1 significantly downregulated the expression of PI3K, p‐AKT and p‐mTOR, which were abolished by the PI3K inhibitor, LY294002. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that LAIR‐1 inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, probably via suppressing the PI3K‐AKT‐mTOR pathway.