Membrane palmitoylated protein 3 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell migration and invasion via up-regulating matrix metalloproteinase 1

• MPP3 are overexpressed in HCC.
• MPP3 promoted HCC cell migration and invasion.
• MPP3 up-regulated MMP1.

Membrane associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK) family, has been extensively studied in cellular adhesion and signal transduction at sites of cell–cell contact. Recently, growing attention has been paid to its role in the initiation and progression of various cancers. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been rarely investigated. In this study, we found that membrane palmitoylated protein 3 (MPP3), a member of MAGUK family, was significantly up-regulated in both high metastatic potential cell lines and clinical tissue samples of HCC, and the most significant increase was observed in the tumors invading the portal veins. Higher level of MPP3 correlated with poorer survival of patients with HCC. Forced expression of MPP3 significantly enhanced HCC cell migration and invasion, whereas knockdown of this gene inhibited this oncogenic effect. Mechanismly, we found that MPP3 promoted HCC cell migration and invasion via up-regulating matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP1). These findings indicate that MPP3 play an important role in HCC metastasis by promoting cell migration and invasion, suggesting that it may serve as a novel prognostic marker and molecular target for therapy of HCC.