Overexpression of the metastasis-associated gene MTA3 correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

Background and Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and aggressive cancers in the world. However, there remains a lack of effective diagnostic and treatment markers. We aimed to explore metastasis-associated protein 3 (MTA3) expression and function in HCC and its relationship with clinicopathological factors. Methods: We investigated the expression pattern and clinicopathological significance of MTA3 in 90 patients with HCC via immunohistochemistry and explored MTA3 function via gene knockdown of MTA3. Results: MTA3 was overexpressed in HCC cell nuclei and downregulated in HCC cell cytoplasm. The former finding correlated with metastasis (P=0.010) and poor prognosis (P=0.018). In addition, deleting MTA3 inhibited HCC cell growth, invasion, and metastasis in vitro, as shown in the colony formation, migration, and wound-healing assays. Conclusions: These results indicate that MTA3 is an oncogene of HCC, predicts poor prognosis of HCC, and may be a future marker of HCC treatment.