The Role of Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor-Associated Protein LRP11 in the Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

This study investigated the role of the low-density lipoprotein receptor-associated protein LRP11 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Analysis of TCGA and GTEx databases revealed that LRP11 expression was significantly increased in liver cancer tissues compared to normal tissues (P <0.05). High expression of LRP11 was associated with shorter survival in liver cancer patients (P <0.05). Lentivirus transfection was used to create sh-NC and sh-LRP11 groups for further experiments. Silencing LRP11 in HepG2 cells resulted in a significant decrease in cell viability (P <0.05), increased apoptosis rate (P <0.01), and upregulation of the apoptosis-related protein Bax (P <0.01) and downregulation of Bcl-2 (P <0.01). Moreover, the sh-LRP11 group showed a significant decrease in the S-phase of the cell cycle (P <0.01) and reduced expression of Cyclin D1 (P <0.01). These findings indicate that LRP11 is highly expressed in liver cancer tissues and is associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Suppression of LRP11 expression inhibits the proliferation of HCC cells, promotes apoptosis, and affects cell cycle progression. These results contribute to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying HCC development and progression, as well as identifying potential therapeutic targets.