Fig. 5. GDF1 activated a broad panel of cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) by suppressing the epigenetic regulator LSD1 in HCC.
a RNA-seq was performed in PLC-8024-CTR and PLC-8024-GDF1 cells. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was performed in PLC-8024 cells transfected with or without GDF1 to examine the enrichment in gene sets of cancer-testis antigens. NES, normalised enrichment score. b The relative expression of representative CTAs was detected by qPCR in PLC-8024-CTR and PLC-8024-GDF1 cells (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, NS, not significant, two-tailed independent Student’s t test, data are presented as mean values ± SD, n = 3 independent experiments). c The relative expression of representative CTAs was detected by qPCR in PLC-8024 cells cocultured with PLC-8024-CTR and PLC-8024-GDF1 cells (**P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, NS, not significant, two-tailed independent Student’s t-test, data are presented as mean values ± SD, n = 3 independent experiments). d The relative expression of representative CTAs was detected by qPCR in PLC-8024 cells treated with rGDF1 at 50 ng/mL or vehicle control for 15 days (*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, NS not significant, two-tailed independent Student’s t test, data are presented as mean values ± SD, n = 3 independent experiments). e IHC staining of GAGE12E in subcutaneous and intrahepatic tumours formed by PLC-8024-CTR and PLC-8024-GDF1 cells. Scale bars represent 50 µm, n = 3 independent experiments. f The relative expression of representative LSD1 was detected by qPCR in PLC-8024 and Huh7 cells transfected with or without GDF1 (two-tailed independent Student’s t-test, data are presented as mean values ± SD, n = 3 independent experiments). g PLC-8024 and Huh7 cells were treated with the LSD1 inhibitor GSK-LSD1 at 5 μM for 72 h. The relative expression of representative CTAs was detected by qPCR (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, NS, not significant, two-tailed independent Student’s t test, data are presented as mean values ± SEM, n = 3 independent experiments). h PLC-8024-CTR and PLC-8024-GDF1 cells were treated with LSD1 inhibitor at 5 μM or 10 μM for 72 h. The expression of GAGE12E and LSD1 at the protein level was examined by western blot. iLSD1, GSK-LSD1. + , 5 μM. ++,10 μM (n = 3 independent experiments). i PLC-8024 cells were treated with rGDF1 at 50 ng/mL or TGF-β1 at 10 ng/mL or vehicle control for 30 min. The enrichment of SMAD2/3 on LSD1 promoter under stimulation with either recombinant GDF1 or TGF-β1 was conducted by ChIP-PCR assay (two-tailed independent Student’s t-test, data are presented as mean values ± SEM, n = 3 independent experiments). j Promoter activities of LSD1 in PLC-8024 cells treated with rGDF1 at 50 ng/mL or TGF-β1 at 10 ng/mL or vehicle control for indicated time points were detected by dual-luciferase assay (two-tailed independent Student’s t-test, data are presented as mean values ± SEM, n = 3 independent experiments). iLSD1, GSK-LSD1. rGDF1, recombinant human GDF1 protein. rTGFB1, recombinant human TGF-β1 protein. k Ectopic expression of SMAD3 was induced in GDF1-knockout cell lines (n = 3 independent experiments). The expression of GAGE12E and LSD1 at the protein level was examined by western blot. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.