ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1581398
This article is part of the Research TopicUbiquitination in Tumor Pathogenesis and Progression and its Therapeutic PotentialView all 4 articles
PSMD12 Promotes Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression by Stabilizing CDK1
Provisionally accepted
Xingyu Peng1
Zitao Liu1
Luo Chen2
Rui Sun3Yuting Zhang1,4
Bowen Li4Yeqing Zou1
Jinfeng Zhu1*
Rongfa Yuan1*- 1Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- 2The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
- 3BenQ Medical Center, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 4Jiangxi Medical College, Shangrao, Jiangxi Province, China
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Proteasome 26S subunit non-ATPase 12 (PSMD12), a critical subunit of the proteasome system, is essential for maintaining protein homeostasis. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains underexplored. Bioinformatics analysis, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and qRT-PCR confirmed the upregulation of PSMD12 in HCC tissues compared to normal liver tissues, with this overexpression correlating with poor patient prognosis. Functional assays revealed that PSMD12 knockdown suppressed HCC cell proliferation and migration, inducing G2/M phase cell cycle arrest. In contrast, PSMD12 overexpression promoted these malignant behaviors. Mechanistically, PSMD12 interacts with cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), preventing its degradation through deubiquitination, thereby accelerating HCC progression by enhancing cell cycle progression. These findings underscore PSMD12's role in HCC and highlight its potential as both a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms driving HCC progression.
Keywords: PSMD12, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Cdk1, deubiquitination, Cell Cycle
Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Peng, Liu, Chen, Sun, Zhang, Li, Zou, Zhu and Yuan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jinfeng Zhu, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
Rongfa Yuan, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
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