Harnessing RNA-Protein Interactions for the Regulation of Heptocellular Carcinoma Progression

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is closely linked to disruptions in S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM) metabolism, with MAT2A playing a critical role in sustaining rapid cell growth and tumor progression. CIC Parker and CIB Wen developed EvoFam1,2, a computational method for genome-wide discovery of conserved RNA structures. Using this approach, we identified a family of six deeply conserved hairpins structures in the 3' UTR of MAT2A. Our preliminary data from CIA Wang revealed that deletion of this six-hairpins structure leads to MAT2A upregulation, promoting HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion.