Inhibitory effects of interferon-α on growth and invasion potentials of hepatocellular carcinoma induced by hepatitis B virus X protein

Objective To explore the inhibitory effects of interferon-alpha (INF-α) on growth and invasion potentiald of hepatocellular carcinoma induced by hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx). Meth-ods The pcDNA3. 1-HBx plasmid was transfected into CCL13 cells by Lipofectamine in vitro, and CCL13/HBx was co-cultured with INF-α. Cell survival growth curve and clonogenicity assay were used to test the growth potential of CCL13/peDNA3. 1, CCL13/HBx and IFN-α-CCL13/HBx in vitro. Tumor growth assay in nude mice was used to detect the growth potentials of them in vivo, and wound-healing and transwell migration assays were used to detect their invasive ability. Results The human liver cell lines CCLI3 containing stabilizing HBx gene expression had the characterizations of malignant cells, they grew faster than INF-α-CCL13/HBx and CCLI3/PeDNA3.1 cell lines obviously, had stronger colony- forming efficiency (31.2% vs 10.8% vs 12.4%, P < 0.05) and wound healing capability. Their number of cells which penetrated the lower surface of the matrigel-coater filters was more than the other two cell lines [(41.6±3.1)/HP vs (7.4±1.2)/HP vs (9.2±1.6)/HP,P < 0.05]. But their tumorigenity in nude was lower when treated with INF-α [(2.4±0. 2) cm3 vs (4.2±0.3) cm3, P < 0.05]. Conclusion INF-α can restrain the growth and invasive potentials induced by HBx protein in hepatocellular carcino-ma cells,which provided an experimental basis for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy. Key words: Hepatitis B virus;  Interferon-alpha;  Carcinoma,hepatocellular;  Invasion