Effect of SULF1 on the proliferation of liver cancer cells and related molecular mechanisms

Objective To explore the related mechanisms of sulfatase-1 (SULF1) in regulating the proliferation of liver cancer cells. Methods Western blot and immunohistochemical experiments were used to analyze the difference of SULF1 expression between normal liver tissue and liver cancer tissue. A stable transgenic cell line overexpressing SULF1 was constructed using HepG2 and HuH-7 cells. EdU, CCK-8, and colony formation experiments were performed to investigate the effects of SULF1 overexpression on the proliferation of liver cancer cells. Western blot was conducted to explore the molecular mechanism of SULF1 regulating hepatoma cell proliferation. Results Compared with normal liver tissue, SULF1 was lowly expressed in liver cancer tissues. Overexpression of SULF1 inhibited the proliferation of liver cancer cells. SULF1 stimulated the expression of p53. Conclusions SULF1 acts as a tumor suppressor gene in liver cancer and inhibits the proliferation of liver cancer cells by stimulating p53.