MiR200-upregulated Vasohibin 2 promotes the malignant transformation of tumors by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) typically relies on tumor transformation and angiogenesis for its malignant behavior, including growth and metastasis. Previously, we reported that Vasohibin2 (VASH2) is preferentially expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor tissues and promotes angiogenesis. Here, we further investigated the role of VASH2 in HCC tumor progression. RESULTS: Bioinformatics analyses and luciferase reporter gene assays confirmed the post-transcriptional regulation of VASH2 by miR-200a/b/c. We then used HepG2 and Hep3B cells, two representative hepatic cancer cell lines, to examine the role of VASH2 in tumors. VASH2 knockdown in HepG2 cells inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), but VASH2 overexpression in Hep3B cells promoted EMT. Western blot analyses showed that VASH2 promoted EMT through the ZEB1/2 pathway. CONCLUSION: VASH2 promoted invasion, reduced apoptosis and increased the proportion of stem cells in vitro and in vivo. These results indicated that VASH2 expression in HCC cells promotes the malignant transformation of tumors by inducing EMT. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12964-014-0062-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.