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Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) plays an important role during liver neoplastic development through transcriptional regulation of prosurvival genes, which then counteract the death-inducing signals elicited by the host immune response. The c-Myc proto-oncogene is frequently deregulated in liver tumors. Furthermore, enforced expression of c-Myc in the liver promotes the development of hepatocellular carcinomas, a process that is accelerated by coexpression with transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha). TGF-alpha/c-Myc-derived hepatocellular carcinomas display reduced apoptotic levels compared with those of single c-Myc transgenic hepatocellular carcinomas, suggesting that TGF-alpha provides a survival advantage to c-Myc-transformed hepatocytes. Given that TGF-alpha/c-Myc hepatocellular carcinomas display constitutive NF-kappaB activity, here, we have tested the hypothesis that enforced expression of TGF-alpha results in constitutive NF-kappaB activation and enhanced cell survival using TGF-alpha/c-Myc-derived hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. We show that TGF-alpha induces NF-kappaB through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt axis in these bitransgenic hepatocellular carcinomas. Furthermore, we found that adenovirus-mediated inhibition of NF-kappaB activity impairs the ability of TGF-alpha/c-Myc-derived tumor cells to grow in an anchorage-independent fashion due to sensitization to c-Myc-induced apoptosis. Lastly, we show that NF-kappaB inhibits c-Myc-induced activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 through up-regulation of the antiapoptotic target genes Bcl-X(L) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP). Overall, these results underscore a crucial role of NF-kappaB in disabling apoptotic pathways initiated by oncogenic transformation.

Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) plays a critical role during fetal liver development and hepatic oncogenesis. Here, we have assessed whether NF-kappaB activity is required for murine hepatocellular carcinoma cell survival. We show that adenoviral-mediated inhibition of inhibitor of NF-kappaB kinase-beta (IKK-2) activity in hepatocellular carcinomas derived from transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha/c-myc bitransgenic mice leads to inhibition of NF-kappaB and promotes tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-mediated cell death of malignant hepatocytes but not the surrounding peritumorous tissue. Induction of apoptosis is accompanied by inhibition of Bcl-X(L) and XIAP, two pro-survival NF-kappaB target genes. In addition, we have identified the alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) as a novel downstream target of NF-kappaB. We show that repression of IKK-2 activity in hepatocellular carcinomas promotes down-regulation of AFP gene expression. Likewise, genetic disruption of the RelA subunit results in reduced AFP gene expression during embryonic liver development, at a time in which fetal hepatocytes are sensitized to TNF-alpha-mediated cell killing. In this regard, we show that AFP inhibits TNF-alpha-induced cell death of murine hepatocellular carcinomas through association with TNF-alpha and inhibition of TNFRI signaling. Thus, NF-kappaB-mediated regulation of AFP gene expression during liver tumor formation and embryonic development of the liver constitutes a potential novel mechanism used by malignant and fetal hepatocytes to evade immune surveillance.