Hypoxia induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition and vasculogenic mimicry formation by promoting Bcl-2/Twist1 cooperation

• Hypoxia promoted Bcl-2/Twist1 cooperation.
• Bcl-2/Twist1 cooperation led to Twist1 nuclear translocation.
• Twist1 nuclear translocation could induce EMT and VM formation.

Hypoxia plays a pivotal role in tumor progression. The functions of hypoxia and subsequent Bcl-2/Twist1 activation in epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation are currently unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role of Bcl-2/Twist1 cooperation in hypoxia-induced EMT and VM formation. In in vitro experiments, we found that hypoxia resulted in co-overexpression of Bcl-2 and Twist1, facilitated Twist1 nuclear translocation and promoted EMT and VM formation. Co-overexpression of Bcl-2 and Twist1 under normoxia could also induce EMT and promote VM formation. Furthermore, blocking Bcl-2 or Twist1 attenuated the effects of hypoxia on EMT progress and VM formation in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. In in vivo experiments, the mechanism by which hypoxia promoted Bcl-2 and Twist1 co-overexpression and induced EMT process and VM formation was demonstrated using murine xenograft models. These results above suggest that hypoxia could activate the cooperation of Bcl-2 and Twist1, Bcl-2 plays an important role in assisting Twist1 nuclear translocation which could change the expression of a wide range of genes and lead to the induction of EMT and VM formation.