Downregulation of SIRT2 Inhibits Invasion of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Inhibiting Energy Metabolism

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common neoplasms, and metastasis is the most important feature for HCC-related deaths. Mounting evidence implies the dynamic regulatory role of SIRT2, a histone deacetylase, in cancer cells. Unfortunately, the role of SIRT2 and the antitumor activity of its inhibition are not known in HCC. The present study aims to evaluate the biological function of SIRT2 in HCC and identify the target of SIRT2 as well as evaluate its therapeutic efficacy. We found that SIRT2 was upregulated in HCC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues, and this was correlated with reduced patient survival. Although CCK8 and colony-formation assays showed that SIRT2 inhibiton marginally promotes proliferation in HCC cell lines, SIRT2 knockdown decreased the invasion of HCC cells. We demonstrated that downregulation of SIRT2 could inhibit its downstream target phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 and glutaminase, which is related to mitochondrial metabolism and the E-Cadherin pathway. These results demonstrate, for the first time that downregulation of SIRT2 decreases migration as well as invasion in human HCC cells, indicating that inhibiting SIRT2 may be an effective therapeutic strategy for treating HCC.