Ischemia reperfusion injury promotes recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in fatty liver via ALOX12-12HETE-GPR31 signaling axis

BACKGROUND: Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) has been shown to increase the risk of tumor recurrence after liver surgery. Also, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with increased HCC recurrence. ALOX12–12-HETE pathway is activated both in liver IRI and NASH. Also, ALOX12–12-HETE has been shown to mediate tumorigenesis and progression. Therefore, our study aims to investigate whether the ALOX12–12-HETE-GPR31 pathway involved in IRI induced HCC recurrence in NAFLD. METHODS: HCC mouse model was used to mimic the HCC recurrence in NAFLD. Western Blot, qPCR, Elisa and Immunofluorescence analysis were conducted to evaluate the changes of multiple signaling pathways during HCC recurrence, including ALOX12–12-HETE axis, EMT, MMPs and PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway. We also measured the expression and functional changes of GPR31 by siRNA. RESULTS: ALOX12–12-HETE pathway was activated in liver IRI and its activation was further enhanced in NAFLD, which induced more severe HCC recurrence in fatty livers than normal livers. Inhibition of ALOX12–12-HETE by ML355 reduced the HCC recurrence in fatty livers. In vitro studies showed that 12-HETE increased the expression of GPR31 and induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and matrix metalloprotein (MMPs) by activating PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway. Furthermore, knockdown of GPR31 in cancer cells inhibited the HCC recurrence in NAFLD. CONCLUSIONS: ALOX12–12-HETE-GPR31 played an important role in HCC recurrence and might be a potential therapeutic target to reduce HCC recurrence after surgery in fatty livers.