Fig. 6.
EYA2 interacts with DACH1 to suppress HCC progression via SOCS3-mediated blockade of JAK/STAT signaling. (A) Scatter plot showing the differentially expressed genes regulated by the overexpression of EYA2. (B) Heat map showing the representative differentially expressed genes modulated by the overexpression of EYA2. (C) KEGG pathway analysis showing the most enriched pathways of the differentially expressed genes. (D) GSEA showing the enrichment of JAK/STAT-related gene signatures in the EYA2 overexpression cells. (E) Co-immunoprecipitation of endogenous DACH1 with anti-EYA2 antibody (upper) and endogenous EYA2 with anti-DACH1 antibody (lower) in MHCC-97H and Huh-7 cells. (F) SOCS3 promoter constructs (− 2000/− 1) co-transfected with pcDNA3.1-EYA2 or/and GV141-DACH1 and the relative luciferase activity measured in HEK293T cells. (G) Expression of SOCS3, p-STAT3, p-JAK2, STAT3 and JAK2 in Hep3B and Huh-7 cells co-transfected with GV141-DACH1/sh-EYA2 or si-DACH1/pcDNA3.1-EYA2 detected by western blot. (H) Western blot analysis of expression of STAT3, p-STAT3, JAK2 and p-JAK2 in Hep3B and Huh-7 cells co-transfected with GV492-SOCS3/sh1-EYA2 or si1-DACH1/GV492-SOCS3. (I) Scheme of Eya2−/− mice induced with DEN. (J) Images of the liver of Eya2−/− and Eya2+/+ mice treated with DEN at 7, 9 and 11 months. (K) H&E staining and immunohistochemistry analysis of the expression of EYA2, SOCS3 and PCNA in liver tissues from mice treated with DEN at 7, 9 and 11 months. T indicates tumor nodule. Number of tumors (L) and tumor sizes (M) from mice treated with DEN at 9 and 11 months. qRT-PCR analysis of EYA2 (N) and SOCS3 (O) expression in liver tissues from mice treated with DEN at 7, 9 and 11 months (n = 3 for each group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. (F, L, M, N, O) mean ± SEM, Student’s t-tests