MAL2 drives hepatocellular carcinoma progression by recruiting regulatory T cells via CCL22 and inducing the immunosuppressive microenvironment - PubMed
3 hours ago
- #therapeutic target
- #hepatocellular carcinoma
- #immune microenvironment
- MAL2 is significantly enriched in malignant HCC cells according to single-cell RNA sequencing data.
- Knockdown of MAL2 suppresses proliferation, invasion, and migration of HCC cell lines in vitro and inhibits tumor growth in vivo.
- MAL2 downregulation reshapes the immune microenvironment, reducing Tregs and exhaustion markers while increasing B cells and MDSCs.
- MAL2 knockdown impairs CCL22 secretion, leading to reduced Treg recruitment and decreased production of immunosuppressive cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β.
- MAL2 promotes HCC progression through CCL22-mediated Treg recruitment, making it a promising therapeutic target.