Sophoridine suppresses lenvatinib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma growth by inhibiting RAS/MEK/ERK axis via decreasing VEGFR2 expression.

ABSTRACT: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal cancer types with insufficient approved therapies, among which lenvatinib is a newly approved multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor for frontline advanced HCC treatment. However, resistance to lenvatinib has been reported in HCC treatment recently, which limits the clinical benefits of lenvatinib. This study aims to investigate the underlying mechanism of lenvatinib resistance and explore the potential drug to improve the treatment for lenvatinib-resistant (LR) HCC. Here, we developed two human LR HCC cell lines by culturing with long-term exposure to lenvatinib. Results showed that the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR)2 expression and its downstream RAS/MEK/ERK signalling were obviously up-regulated in LR HCC c

SUBMITTER: Zhao Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7810959 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature