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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

Studying TGF-β Signaling and TGF-β-induced Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer and Normal Cells
Published on: October 27, 2020
A long noncoding RNA activated by TGF-β promotes the invasion-metastasis cascade in hepatocellular carcinoma
Ji-hang Yuan1, Fu Yang1, Fang Wang1
1Department of Medical Genetics, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, China.
Abstract:
The role of TGF-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cancer cell dissemination is well established, but the involvement of lncRNAs in TGF-β signaling is still unknown. In this study, we observed that the lncRNA-activated by TGF-β (lncRNA-ATB) was upregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastases and associated with poor prognosis. lncRNA-ATB upregulated ZEB1 and ZEB2 by competitively binding the miR-200 family and then induced EMT and invasion. In addition, lncRNA-ATB promoted organ colonization of disseminated tumor cells by binding IL-11 mRNA, autocrine induction of IL-11, and triggering STAT3 signaling. Globally, lncRNA-ATB promotes the invasion-metastasis cascade. Thus, these findings suggest that lncRNA-ATB, a mediator of TGF-β signaling, could predispose HCC patients to metastases and may serve as a potential target for antimetastatic therapies.
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