With regard to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, we previously reported that phosphorylated HSP20 plays a suppressive role in transforming growth factor (TGF)-α-induced cell migration and invasion.
The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological and immunohistochemical (including VEGF, Akt, HSP70, and HSP20 expression) factors that affect the overall and disease-free survival of HCC patients following surgical resection.
Therefore, in the present study, we investigated whether HSP20 is implicated in HCC cell migration and the invasion using human HCC-derived HuH7 cells.
These findings strongly suggest that HSP20 directly associates with PI3K and suppresses its activity in HCC, resulting in the inhibition of the AKT pathway, and subsequently decreasing the growth of HCC.