ID1-induced p16/IL6 axis activation contributes to the resistant of hepatocellular carcinoma cells to sorafenib

Sorafenib is the only approved drug for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its efficacy is limited by the emergence of primary and/or acquired resistance. Senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP)-mediated chemo-resistance, which depends on the secreted bioactive molecules, has attracted increasing attention but never revealed in HCC. In this study, we investigated the effect of SASP-related p16/IL6 axis on sorafenib resistance in HCC. Initially, we noticed that HCC cells with a high level of p16/IL6 axis exhibited a low sensitivity to sorafenib. Further in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrated that such a primary resistance resulted from ID1-mediated activation of p16/IL6 axis. Overexpression of ID1 or IL6 blocking in sorafenib-resistant HCC cells could increase the cytotoxicity of sorafenib. Moreover, SASP-related p16/IL6 axis contributed to the formation of acquired resistance in cells received long-term exposure to sorafenib. In acquired sorafenib-resistant cells, ID1 low expression, p16/IL6 axis up-regulation, and AKT phosphorylation activation were observed. A reduced cytotoxicity of sorafenib was detected when sorafenib-sensitive cells incubated with conditioned media from the resistant cells, accompanied by the stimulation of AKT phosphorylation. The reversal of sorafenib resistance could be achieved through ID1 overexpression, IL6 blocking, and AKT pathway inhibition. Our study reveals that SASP-related p16/IL6 axis activation is responsible for sorafenib resistance, which will be a novel strategy to prevent the drug resistance.