Increased expression of Fat1 in hepatocellular carcinoma promotes tumorigenicity

Fat1 is an atypical cadherin, and the Fat1-Hippo signaling pathway plays an important role in the regulation of normal organ growth during development and in pathological growth during cancer. However, expression pattern and function vary in different types of cancer, and so far there are no data regarding Fat1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Method and Results: Fat1 mRNA and protein are increased in human HCC cell lines and tissues compared to normal primary human hepatocytes and non-tumorous tissue, respectively, as assessed by quantitative PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Suppress…