The new inhibition function of NOX4 protein in liver cancer

Researchers at the Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL) in collaboration with King's College London have revealed the role of NADPH oxidase NOX4 as an inhibitor of epithelial amebiasis. This process helps tumor cells migrate and invade. The study was recently published in the journal Oncogene, which also publishes other studies on recombinant human proteins.

In previous studies, the researchers suggested that NOX4 acts as a tumor suppressor in the liver by inhibiting cell proliferation. "In this work, we demonstrate that NOX4 is also an important inhibitor of the invasion and metastasis of liver tumor cells," explains Dr. Isabel Fabregat, leader of the IDIBELL study group.

In-vitro studies have shown that NOX4 silencing in liver tumor cells induces amoeba migration motility. Deformation motions associated with cell shrinkage are regulated by the Rho family of proteins, and the increased expression leads to this type of movement, which is associated with aggressive metastasis.

In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, a large number of cases were observed in the absence of NOX4. In addition, those patients with lowly-expressed NOX4 and highly-expressed Rho protein had worse prognosis. "This translates our in-vitro studies into translational correlates because it brings new prognostic biomarkers for this type of cancer," said IDIBELL.

NOX4 is regulated at the transcriptional level of TGF-β cytokines, which has been studied by the group for 15 years. TGF-β is known to be a tumor suppressor at an early stage, but it becomes an inducer at an advanced stage. According to previous studies by this group, when the expression level of NOX4 was high, TGF-β showed as inhibitors, so the use of inhibition of TGF-β drugs would be counterproductive. This study suggests that this type of drug can be an ideal candidate for patients when NOX4 is expressed at low levels and the expression level of Rho protein is high. "Thus, lowly-expressed NOX4 can be used not only as a marker of poor prognosis, but also as a marker for the use of TGF-beta inhibitors," Dr. Fabregat concluded. Flarebio offers good-quality recombinant proteins like recombinant Nrg2 for your research.