Lymphocyte‐specific protein 1 inhibits the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma by suppressing ERK1/2 phosphorylation

Lymphocyte-specific protein 1(LSP1) has been reported to regulate cell biology in several human cancers including lymphoma and breast cancer. However, the functions of LSP1 in human Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are still unknown. In this study, we found that LSP1 expression was downregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, and lower LSP1 expression was correlated with poor clinicopathological features including large tumor size, high Edmondson–Steiner grading and advanced tumor–node–metastasis(TNM) stage. Additionally, we demonstrated that patients with high LSP1 expression had significantly better overall survival and disease-free survival. Moreover, LSP1 was found to be an independent factor for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients. In vitro and in vivo assays showed that overexpressing LSP1 inhibited the HCC growth by inducing both apoptosis and growth arrest. Mechanistically, we found that expression of phosphorylated ERK1/2 was down-regulated after LSP1 overexpression, indicating LSP1 could suppress HCC growth by inhibitng ERK pathway in HCC cells. Taken together, these results indicate that LSP1 may serve as a prognostic marker and a potential theraputic target in human HCC. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.