HDAC5 promotes cell proliferation in human hepatocellular carcinoma by up-regulating Six1 expression

OBJECTIVES : Histone deacety - lases(HDACs)playsimportantrolesintheregu - lationofgenesexpressionandcontributetothe growth of cancer cells.The present study aimed to investigate the function of HDAC5 in human hepatocellularcarcinoma(HCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Theexpressionof HDAC5 in human hepatocellular carcinoma tis - sues and cells was detected. MTT assay was used to measure the proliferation of HCC cell lines.siRNAtechnologywasemployedtodown- regulate the protein expression of HDAC5 and Six1. RESULTS: WesternblotshowedthattheHDAC5 expressionwasincreasedinhumanHCCtissues. ThemRNAandproteinlevelsofHDAC5wereup- regulated in human HCC cell lines. MTT assay showedthatover-expressionofHDAC5promoted cell proliferation in human HCC cell lines. Down- regulationofHDAC5causedasignificantlyinhibi- tion of liver cancer cells proliferation. Further - more, we found that HDAC5 promoted the Six1 expression both at the mRNA and protein levels inHCCcelllines. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demon - strated for the first time that HDAC5 promoted HCC cell proliferation through up-regulation of Six1 expression and might provide novel thera - peutictargetsinthetreatmentofHCC .