Hypoxia promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition of hepatocellular carcinoma cells via inducing Twist1 expression.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether hypoxia microenvironment induced hepatocellular carcinoma cells SMMC-7721 epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, SMMC-7721 cells were cultured under normoxia and hypoxia conditions, respectively. RT-PCR and Western blot were used to monitor the expression level of EMT-related markers, E-cadherin, and vimentin, as well as hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and Twist1. Then we performed the transwell invasion assays to detect the ability of cell invasion. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that hypoxia micro-environment could induce hepatocellular carcinoma cells SMMC-7721 EMT and enhance the cell invasion ability. Furthermore, knockdown of Twist1 by using specific siRNA could reverse hypoxia-induced EMT process. CONCLUSIONS: Hypoxia promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cells SMMC-7721 EMT by upregulating the expression of Twist1.