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. 2009 Apr 2;66(10):1755–1765. doi: 10.1007/s00018-009-8767-5

Mitochondrial dysfunction-induced amphiregulin upregulation mediates chemo-resistance and cell migration in HepG2 cells

C-J Chang 1,2,5, P-H Yin 3, D-M Yang 3,4, C-H Wang 1, W-Y Hung 1, C-W Chi 1,3, Y-H Wei 2,, H-C Lee 1,
PMCID: PMC11115798  PMID: 19337692

Abstract.

The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction to chemoresistance and migration of hepatoma cells. We found that inhibition of mitochondrial respiration and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) depletion resulted in induction of amphiregulin (AR) expression in HepG2 cells. Upon oligomycin treatment of HepG2 cells, the cytosolic Ca2+ was significantly raised after 30 min, and the intracellular level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was elevated 2.2-fold after 4 h. Moreover, the condition medium of oligomycin-treated HepG2 cells was found to stimulate the migration of SK-Hep-1 cells. On the other hand, oligomycin-induced cisplatin-resistance and cell migration of HepG2 cells were attenuated by AR-specific RNA interference (#L-017435, Dharmacon) and a neutralizing antibody (MAB262, R&D Systems), respectively. Together, these findings suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction induced Ca2+ mobilization, and ROS overproduction, which modulated the chemo-resistance and migration of hepatoma cells through the induction and activation of AR.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00018-009-8767-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keywords. ROS, Ca2+, ADAM17, EGFR, oligomycin, mtDNA depletion

Electronic Supplementary material

(PDF 907 kb) (907.6KB, pdf)

Footnotes

Y.-H. Wei, H.-C. Lee: These authors contribute equally to this work.

Received 02 December 2008; received after revision 16 March 2009; accepted 17 March 2009

Contributor Information

Y.-H. Wei, FAX: +886-2-28264843, Email: joeman@ym.edu.tw

H.-C. Lee, FAX: +886-2-28264372, Email: hclee2@ym.edu.tw

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Supplementary Materials

(PDF 907 kb) (907.6KB, pdf)

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