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Background and Aims: HCC is the most common primary liver tumor, with an increasing incidence worldwide. HCC is a heterogeneous malignancy and usually develops in a chronically injured liver. The NF-κB signaling network consists of a canonical and a noncanonical branch. Activation of canonical NF-κB in HCC is documented. However, a functional and clinically relevant role of noncanonical NF-κB and its downstream effectors is not established., Approach and Results: Four human HCC cohorts (total n = 1462) and 4 mouse HCC models were assessed for expression and localization of NF-κB signaling components and activating ligands. In vitro , NF-κB signaling, proliferation, and cell death were measured, proving a pro-proliferative role of v-rel avian reticuloendotheliosis viral oncogene homolog B (RELB) activated by means of NF-κB-inducing kinase. In vivo , lymphotoxin beta was identified as the predominant inducer of RELB activation. Importantly, hepatocyte-specific RELB knockout in a murine HCC model led to a lower incidence compared to controls and lower maximal tumor diameters. In silico , RELB activity and RELB-directed transcriptomics were validated on the The Cancer Genome Atlas HCC cohort using inferred protein activity and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. In RELB-active HCC, pathways mediating proliferation were significantly activated. In contrast to v-rel avian reticuloendotheliosis viral oncogene homolog A, nuclear enrichment of noncanonical RELB expression identified patients with a poor prognosis in an etiology-independent manner. Moreover, RELB activation was associated with malignant features metastasis and recurrence., Conclusions: This study demonstrates a prognostically relevant, etiology-independent, and cross-species consistent activation of a lymphotoxin beta/LTβR/RELB axis in hepatocarcinogenesis. These observations may harbor broad implications for HCC, including possible clinical exploitation., (Copyright © 2023 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.)

The cylindromatosis gene (CYLD) was identified as a tumor suppressor gene, which is mutated in familial cylindromatosis (Brooke-Spiegler syndrome), an autosomal-dominant predisposition to multiple tumors of the skin appendages. CYLD is a deubiquitinating enzyme acting as a negative regulator of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway by removing lysine-63-linked polyubiquitin chains from NF-κB activating proteins. In order to investigate the role of CYLD in apoptotic signaling in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, we first studied the expression levels of CYLD in HCC tissues. CYLD expression was lower in HCC both at protein and mRNA levels compared to the surrounding non-malignant tissue. In order to further study the role of CYLD in the apoptotic sensitivity of HCC cells, CYLD was specifically down-regulated in HCC cell lines via RNA interference. The specific down-regulation of CYLD resulted in increased resistance towards treatment with doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin. In addition, the down-regulation of CYLD in HCC cells decreased the sensitivity towards tumor necrosis factor-α-induced apoptosis. The CYLD knockdown also led to the degradation of the NF-κB inhibitor, IκB-α, resulting in enhanced NF-κB activity in HCC cells. Finally, we found that CYLD expression was triggered by the multikinase inhibitor, sorafenib, by the inhibition of Raf-1, as well as by the blockage of the pro-survival kinases, MEK (U0126) and the epidermal growth factor receptor (AG1478). In summary, we show that CYLD is down-regulated in human HCC and is involved in the apoptotic resistance of HCC cells. Our data identify the reconstitution of CYLD expression as an attractive approach for overcoming resistance to treatment in HCC.