Secretory clusterin promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by facilitating cancer stem cell properties via AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin axis

Background To explore the modulatory effects and mechanism of secretory clusterin (sCLU) on cancer stem cell (CSC) properties in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The effects of sCLU repression or overexpression on chemoresistance, migration, invasion, and tumor growth were detected by MTT, wound healing, transwell assays, and xenograft assay, respectively. The tumor sphere assay was performed to evaluate the self-renewal ability of HCC cells. In addition, the molecular regulation between sCLU and AKT/GSK-3 beta/beta-catenin axis in HCC cells were discovered by western blotting, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and immunofluorescence. The expression status of sCLU and beta-catenin in HCC tissues were investigated by immunohistochemistry. Results Knockdown or overexpressing sCLU remarkably inhibited or promoted the chemoresistance against sorafenib/doxorubicin, metastasis, and tumor growth of HCC cells, respectively. HepG2 and HCCLM3-derived spheroids showed higher expression of sCLU than that in attached cells. Additionally, repressing sCLU impaired the self-renewal capacity of HCC cells and CSC-related chemoresistance while overexpression of sCLU enhanced these CSC properties. Knockdown or overexpression of sCLU inhibited or increased the expressions of beta-catenin, cyclinD1, MMP-2 and MMP-9, and the phosphorylation of AKT or GSK3 beta signaling, respectively. However, LiCl or LY294002 abrogated the effects mediated by sCLU silencing or overexpression on chemoresistance, metastasis, and CSC phenotype. Furthermore, co-expression of sCLU and beta-catenin in HCC tissues indicated poor prognosis of HCC patients. Conclusions Taken together, the oncogenic sCLU might promote CSC phenotype via activating AKT/GSK3 beta/beta-catenin axis, suggesting that sCLU was a potential molecular-target for HCC therapy.