The BZW1 Knouckout SK-HEP-1 Polyclonal Cells product provides a polyclonal population of CRISPR/Cas9-edited SK-HEP-1 cells carrying targeted disruption of the BZW1 gene. This pool of knockout cells serves as a loss-of-function model for investigating BZW1-dependent transcriptional coactivation and its role in oncogenic signaling. Because the population comprises heterogeneous editing events, it captures a spectrum of functional inactivation without the artifacts of clonal selection, making it ideal for population-level phenotypic screens and robust biological replication.
SK-HEP-1 is a human liver adenocarcinoma cell line isolated from ascitic fluid that co-expresses epithelial and endothelial markers, conferring a hybrid phenotype relevant to tumor plasticity and angiogenesis studies. This unique background is extensively characterized for its responsiveness to growth factors, including EGF and TGFB1, and for its active WNT and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways, which are critical drivers in hepatocellular carcinoma.
BZW1 is a transcriptional coactivator that recruits histone acetyltransferase EP300 to chromatin, facilitating acetylation of histone variant H2A.Z and subsequent chromatin relaxation. It operates downstream of WNT3A via the canonical WNT/FZD/DVL/GSK3B/CTNNB1/TCF7L2 cascade and downstream of EGF through MAPK/ERK signaling, and is also regulated by mTORC1 and ATF4. BZW1 interacts with beta-catenin and translation initiation factors EIF2S2 and EIF5, and promotes expression of oncogenic targets CCND1, MYC, MMP9, and VEGFA, thereby linking growth factor stimuli to proliferative and migratory gene programs.
In SK-HEP-1 cells, BZW1 disruption impairs the transcriptional activation of genes essential for cell cycle progression, migration, and invasive behavior, providing a relevant model to dissect the epigenetic mechanisms underlying hepatocellular carcinoma aggressiveness. The mixed epithelial-endothelial nature of this cell line further enables studies on how BZW1-mediated histone modifications influence the acquisition of endothelial-like traits, a phenomenon implicated in vasculogenic mimicry and metastasis.
This knockout cell product is applicable to a wide range of experimental techniques, including western blotting and RT-qPCR for gene expression validation, ChIP-qPCR to assess H2A.Z acetylation changes, MTT/BrdU assays for proliferation, Boyden chamber assays for migration and invasion, flow cytometry for cell cycle analysis, and drug sensitivity testing to evaluate BZW1 as a therapeutic target. For additional information or custom requests, please contact Ascent Research.
