14-3-3{varepsilon} Induces Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Suppresses E-cadherin Expression via Inducing Zeb-1 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

14-3-3 proteins are adaptors for assembly multiprotein complexes to regulate a variety of signal pathways. 14-3-3 proteins composed of seven isoforms which play crucial roles in regulating multiple cellular processes including the cell cycle regulation, DNA repair, apoptosis, cell adhesion and motility. Our earlier study indicated that increased expression of 14-3-3e is associated with higher rate of tumor metastasis and worse overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To further investigate the molecular mechanism how 14-3-3e regulate tumor progression, we established 14-3-3e overexpressing HCC stable cells. We found that overexpression of 14-3-3e significantly promoted cell migration, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and transcriptionally repressed E-cadherin expression in HCC cells. Results from analysis of 14-3-3e/E-cadherin expression with clinicopathologic characteristics indicates that combination of elevated 14-3-3e expression with reduced E-cadherin expression is correlated with ...