Reduced IκBα promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and migration via regulation of NF-κB/Erbin axis

Aberrantly low expression of NF-κB inhibitor α (IκBα) is observed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), yet the underlying mechanism via which IκBα regulates HCC remains largely unknown. Therefore, to determine the potential function of IκBα in hepatocarcinogenesis, the present study used immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining to analyze the associations between IκBα protein expression and clinicopathologic characteristics of 107 patients with HCC. It was found that expression of IκBα was significantly associated with tumor recurrence. Moreover, IκBα protein expression was decreased in 107 HCC tissue samples and was positively associated with overall survival. Mechanistically, it was demonstrated that silencing of IκBα activated NF-κB in both Huh7 and HCCLM3 cells, followed by upregulation of Erbb2 interacting protein (Erbin) at both the mRNA and protein levels, confirmed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting, to promote cell proliferation and migration. Furthermore, knockdown of Erbin significantly attenuated NF-κB-mediated cell proliferation and migration. It was also identified that overexpression of Erbin in HCC tissues promoted both cell proliferation and migration, and was negatively associated with IκBα expression in 107 HCC tissue samples. Thus, these results indicated that downregulation of IκBα promoted HCC tumorigenesis via upregulation of NF-κB-mediated Erbin expression.