Lipoxin A4 and its analog suppress hepatocarcinoma cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition, migration and metastasis via regulating integrin-linked kinase axis

Abstract Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and migration play an important role in tumor progression, and lipoxin (LX), the ‘stop signal’ for inflammation, has been studied in basic research for its anti-inflammatory or inflammatory pro-resolving properties. Here, in the in vitro experiment, we showed that LXA 4 could inhibit the EMT and migration in phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or activated conditioned medium (ACM)-stimulated Hep3B cells by downregulation of integrin-linked kinase (ILK), a pseudokinase in cytoplasm and these effects were via inhibiting the phosphorylation of Akt and GSK3β. Morover, LXA 4 could not affect the EMT and migration of PMA-stimulated Hep3B cells by knockdown of ILK. In the in vivo experiment, BML-111 (the analog of LXA 4 ) could inhibit the EMT and metastasis of hepatocarcinoma cells. We also demonstrated that ILK siRNA inhibited phosphorylation of downstream signaling targets Akt and GSK3β, decreased expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9. These results showed that LXA 4 could be a possible candidate for liver cancer therapy, and blocking ILK axis would be an effective drug target.