Journal
TUMOR BIOLOGY
Volume 37, Issue 8, Pages 10085-10096Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1007/s13277-016-4803-x
Keywords
Hepatocellular carcinoma; Alpha-fetoprotein; Single-chain variable fragment; Apoptosis; Cell cycle arrest
Categories
Funding
- Chinese Universities Scientific Fund [ZJ13083]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [YD2014SK0002]
- Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
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Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high rate of tumor recurrence and metastasis, resulting in shortened survival time. The function of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) as a regulatory factor in the growth of HCC cells has been well defined. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of a novel AFP-specific single-chain variable fragment that blocked AFP and inhibited HCC cell growth. The results indicated that the anti-AFP single-chain variable fragment (scFv) induced growth inhibition of AFP-expressing HCC cell lines in vitro through induction of G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The mechanism of apoptosis probably involved with blocking AFP internalization and regulation of the PTEN/PI3K/Akt signaling network. Moreover, the anti-AFP-scFv also effectively sensitized the HepG2 cells to paclitaxel (PTX) at a lower concentration. The combination effect of PTX and anti-AFP-scFv displayed a synergistic effect on HepG2 cells both in vitro and in vivo. Our results demonstrated that targeting AFP by specific antibodies has potential immunotherapeutic efficacy in human HCC.
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