Fig. 5: WFDC21P suppresses glycolysis in HCC cells.

a Gene ontology enrichment analysis for proteins pull down by WFDC21P and identified by mass spectrometry. The significantly enriched pathways with their FDR adjusted p values were shown. b WFDC21P attenuates glucose uptake. The glucose uptake levels of Huh7 and HepG2 cells with WFDC21P overexpression (left) or WFDC21P knockdown (right) were determined. c WFDC21P decreases lactate production. The lactate production levels of Huh7 and HepG2 cells with WFDC21P overexpression (left) or WFDC21P knockdown (right) were determined. d WFDC21P suppresses the glycolytic capacity. The extracellular acidification rates (ECARs) of Huh7 and HepG2 cells with WFDC21P overexpression (left) or WFDC21P knockdown (right) were shown. The ECAR value represents the glycolytic capacity. e WFDC21P is mainly located in the cytoplasm. WFDC21P levels were detected in the nuclear (N) or cytoplasmic (C) fractions of Huh7 and HepG2 cells. U6 and β-actin (ACTB) were used as nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA markers. PARP and tubulin were considered nuclear (N) and cytoplasmic (C) marker proteins, respectively. f A schematic diagram of the glycolytic pathway. g, h WFDC21P interacts with PFKP (g) and PKM2 (h) as determined by protein immunoprecipitation using the MS2/MS2bs system (left) or RIP experiments (right). The expression of WFDC21P and the efficiency of immunoprecipitation were determined by RT-qPCR and western blotting, respectively. The data are represented as the means ± SEM of at least three independent experiments. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001.