Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer leading to high morbidity and mortality in worldwide. Previous studies revealed that SEC61 translocon alpha 1 subunit1 (SEC61A) can act as an oncogene in colon adenocarcinoma. However, the functions and molecular mechanism associated with HCC progression remain to be explored. This study aimed at exploring the role of SEC61A1 in HCC progression. Methods EdU assay and colony formation assay were applied to assess cell proliferation. The migratory ability of transfected HCC cells was evaluated by transwell migration assay. Sphere formation assay was used to detect the stemneess of HCC cells. Bioinformatics analysis tools and mechanism experiments were used to predict and analyze the potential molecular mechanism associated with the upregulation of SEC61A1 in HCC cells. Results Up-regulated SEC61A1 facilitated cell proliferation, migration and stemness in HCC cells. MiR-491-5p negatively regulated SEC61A1 and inhibited HCC cell proliferation and migration by targeting SEC61A1. VPS9D1 antisense RNA 1 (VPS9D1-AS1) could up-regulate SEC61A1 through sponging miR-491-5p. Early growth response 1 (EGR1) was identified as the upstream transcriptional activator for both SEC61A1 and VPS9D1-AS1. Conclusions Our study unveiled a novel molecular pathway facilitating HCC cell proliferation, migration and stemness, which may shed new insight into HCC treatment.

Background Nowadays, more than 170 million patients suffer from diabetes mellitus worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the effects of sleeve gastrectomy (SG) and ileal transposition (IT) surgery on the control of diabetes. Material/Methods Goto-Kakizaki rats were used to establish type 2 diabetes models and undergo SG or IT surgery. At 2 months post-surgery, insulin, glucose, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), glucose tolerance, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) levels, and insulin sensitivity were evaluated. Results SG significantly shortened operative time and post-operative recovery time compared to IT surgery ( P <0.05). SG and IT surgery resulted in significantly induced weight loss, significantly decreased levels of glucose, and significantly enhanced levels of Ghrelin compared the Sham surgery group ( P <0.001). SG and IT surgery resulted in significantly increased GLP-1 levels compared to Sham surgery ( P <0.001). SG resulted in better reduction of oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glucose compared to IT surgery ( P <0.05). SG and IT surgery significantly upregulated insulin tolerance test (ITT) levels compared to Sham surgery ( P <0.001). SG induced better reductions in TC and TG compared to IT surgery ( P <0.05). Conclusions In non-obese rats with spontaneous diabetes, both SG and IT surgery were found to control diabetes by regulating body weight and levels of glucose, Ghrelin, GLP-1, OGTT glucose, insulin, TC, and TG. Moreover, SG demonstrated advantages of shorter operative time, shorter post-operative recovery time, and better control of diabetes compared to IT surgery.