The Expression and Function of HINT2 in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

ZHANG Lujiao^1,2#, LI Hui^1#, GAO Wei¹, LI Hao¹, LIU Danhui^1*

(¹Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325035, China; ²Chengdu Fifth People’s Hospital, Chengdu 611130, China)

Abstract:

HINT2 plays important roles in the occurrence and progression of many cancers. Its role in thyroid carcinoma, however, has not been well defined. This study detected the expression of HINT2 in thyroid carcinoma tissue microarray. The results showed HINT2 was significantly higher expressed in 12 papillary thyroid carcinoma samples compared with the adjacent normal tissue (86%, P<0.05). K1 cell lines overexpressing or knockdown HINT2 were established. CCK8 and clone formation assays were used to evaluate cell proliferation, Transwell and in vitro scratch assays were used to detect cell migration potential, and finally, Matrigel Transwell assay was used to explore cell invasion ability. The results showed that overexpression of HINT2 potentiated cell proliferation, migration and invasion, whereas HINT2 knockdown inhibits these malignant phenotypes. Additionally, the activation of AKT and ERK signal pathway were detected by Western blot. The results showed that ectopic expression of HINT2 increased the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK, whereas HINT2 knockdown inhibited this process. Taken together, these results suggest that HINT2 plays oncogene role in papillary thyroid carcinoma, and regulates cell proliferation, migration and invasion through modulating PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK signal pathway.