Expression of cytosolic ALR in HCC cells and its impact on hepatocellular growth in vitro and in vivo

Progression of HCC depends on different factors like metastasis and invasiveness. Previously, we have shown that the hepatotrophic protein Augmenter of Liver Regeneration (ALR) is highly expressed in cirrhotic livers and HCC. The aim of our study was to gain more insight in to the functional role of differential regulation of ALR in HCC and its impact on cellular growth in vitro and in vivo. Therefore the cytosolic 15 kDa isoform ALR was re-induced in hepatoma cell line HepG2 by stable transfection with a human ALR expression vector containing the 375 bp ALR cDNA under the control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) pr…