Inhibition of pMAPK14 Overcomes Resistance to Sorafenib in Hepatoma Cells with Hepatitis B Virus.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) targets the liver and is a major driver for liver cancer. Clinical data suggest that HBV infection is associated with reduced response to treatment with the multi-kinase inhibitor sorafenib, the first available molecularly targeted anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) drug. Given that Raf is one of the major targets of sorafenib, we investigated the activation state of the Raf-Mek-Erk pathway in the presence of HBV and in response to sorafenib. Here we show that hepatoma cells with replicating HBV are less susceptible to sorafenib inhibitory effect as compared to cells in which HBV expression is suppressed. However, although HBV replication is associated with increased level of pErk, its blockade only modestly augments sorafenib effect. In contrast, the phosphorylate

SUBMITTER: Witt-Kehati D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5884218 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature