TM2D1 contributes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of hepatocellular carcinoma via modulating AKT/β-catenin axis

Various epidemiology studies showed the correlation between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and low incidence of cancer. However, the etiology underlying etiology of AD-related carcinogenesis remains largely elusive. Our study focused on characterizing the role of TM2D1 (TM2 domain containing 1) in hepatocellular carcinoma. TM2D1 is also known as β-amyloid peptide binding protein and is critical to the pathogenesis of AD. We found that TM2D1 is increasingly expressed in HCC tumors relative to the peritumoral tissues of the matched tumors and high TM2D1 expression predicts unfavorable clinical outcomes. TM2D1 overexpression induced HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion, which was related to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) observed in these cells. Conversely, TM2D1 depletion led to opposite phenotype in HCC. Mechanistically, we found that TM2D1 promoted Akt and β-catenin hyper-activation, which corresponded with molecular marker change in EMT signaling pathway. Taken together, our results indicated that TM2D1 played an important role in the EMT process in HCC cells by activating AKT and β-catenin signaling and may become a promising therapeutic target in HCC.