Cell culture
Four human OS cell lines (Saos-2, HOS, U2OS and MG-63) and human normal osteoblastic cell line (hFOB 1.19) were obtained from the Cell Bank of Type Culture Collection of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China). The cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM; Gibco) harboring with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Gibco). All OS cell lines were cultured in a humidified incubator under 5% CO2 at 37 °C, while hFOB1.19 cells were grown at 34 °C.
Patients and tissue specimens
Twenty-five paired tumor samples and their adjacent non-tumor tissues from patients who had undergone surgery were obtained from Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University (Y2014-185) according to the Declaration of Helsinki, and written informed consents were obtained from all the patients. No patients had undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy or other related targeted therapy before surgery. The diagnosis of OS was confirmed by at least two pathologists. All surgical tissue samples used in our study were immediately placed in liquid nitrogen and then stored at -80 °C until use.
RT-qPCR
Total RNA was isolated from OS cell lines and tissue specimens with the TRIzolTM Reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesis was conducted using the PrimeScript RT reagent kit (Takara) for mRNA expression analysis. The cDNA was applied to perform qRT-PCR assay with SYBR Premix Ex Taq kit (TaKaRa) following the protocols. The 2-ΔΔCt method was used to analyze the difference of mRNA level among different groups. Primers used in this study were listed as follows: KPNA2, 5'-ATTGCAGGTGATGGCTCAGT-3′ (forward) and 5’-CTGCTCAACAGCATCTATCG-3′ (reverse); IRF2, 5’-CATGCGGCTAGACATGGGTG-3’ (forward) and: 5’-GCTTTCCTGTATGGATTGCCC-3’ (reverse); The GAPDH was used as an internal control and was detected using the following primers: 5’-AATCCCATCACCATCTTCC-3′ (forward) and 5’-AGTCCTTCCACGACCAA-3′ (reverse).
Lentiviral vector encoding shRNA plasmids
KPNA2 cDNA was cloned into the Lenti-OE vector (Genepharma, Shanghai, China) to generate KPNA2-overexpressing lentiviral vectors. Short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) were designed by the RiboBio Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou, China). Lentiviral vectors encoding KPNA2 and IRF2 were synthesized and packaged by Genepharma company.
Cell proliferation assay
The cell proliferation assay was performed using a Cell Counting Kit (CCK-8, Dojindo, Japan) following the manufacturer's instructions. Cells at a density of 5 x103 were added into the 96-well plate and 10 microliters of CCK-8 solution was added to each well at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days at 37°C. An additional 1 h later, the absorbance at wavelength of 450 nm was then measured under a microplate reader.
Colony formation assay
For the colony formation assay, 500 cells were plated into each well of a 6-well culture plate. The plates containing DMEM were incubated at 37°C for 2 weeks. After washed with PBS for three time, cells were fixed by 4% paraformaldehyde for 10 min at room temperature, followed by staining with 0.5% crystal violet solution for another 20 min. Lastly, the visible colonies more than 50 cells were manually counted and imaged under a microscope.
Transwell invasion assay
Cells at the density of 1×104 were seeded into a diameter Transwell palte with 8-μm pores (Sigma-Aldrich). The upper chamber of the plate was added with 50 µl of Matrigel collagen, and 600 μL of complete DMEM was added to the lower chambers, and then the cells were incubated for 24 h. The cells on the upper layer were removed and the invasive cells were fixed with 4% formaldehyde for 20 min, and then stained with crystal violet for 15 min. Cells that had invaded the bottom surface of the filter were counted to assess the invasive ability. Invaded cells were quantified by at least five fields of view under a light microscopy (Leica) to obtain the representative images.
Wound healing assay
Cells were cultured in six-well plates. After reaching 90% confluence, a 200 µl pipette tip was used to create the scratch wounds in the cell monolayer. Representative images of cell migration were photographed under a light microscopy (Leica) at 0 and 24 h after wounding. The migration ability was assessed by measuring changes in the size of the wound width or area with Image J software.
Western blot assay
The protein was lysed from tissues and cells with RIPA buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Protein’s concentration was assessed by the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Equal amounts of protein samples were separated by 12% SDS-PAGE gels and transferred onto polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes. After incubating with 5% not-fat milk for 2 h at room temperature, to hatch the blots with the primary antibodies including anti-KPNA2, IRF2, NF-kB p65, p-NF-kB p65, GAPDH overnight at 4°C. Hatching the horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibodies at romm temperature. The endogenous GAPDH is the internal reference protein. The protein band signals were visualized on an ECL detector (Pierce) and quantified by scanning the densitometry using image J software.
Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay
ChIP assays were performed using a kit (Sigma-Aldrich) following the protocol provided by manufacturer. To hatch the diluted DNA-protein complex, the antibodies of anti-IRF2 and mouse IgG (Sigma-Aldrich) were added in the presence of protein A/G beads and incubated at 4°C overnight. RT-qPCR assay was applied to examine the ChIP DNA samples. IgG was the negative control.
Dual luciferase test
The wild (WT) and -mutant (MUT) of KPNA2 were inserted into the pGL3 promoter vector, which was transfected into U2OS and MG-63 cells using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) along with plasmid of IRF2 overexpression or empty plasmid (NC). 48 h later, luciferase activity was measured using a dual-luciferase reporter assay system (Promega) following the manufacture’s protocols.
Tumor xenograft assay
All animal experiments were compliant with the Guide for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University (2018-014). Equal number of indicated U2OS cells (5 × 105) were subcutaneously implanted into the right flank of 6-week-old female athymic nude mice (n=10/per group). Tumors were formed and the mice were anesthetized and sacrificed 18 days post-tumor inoculation. After removed, the tumors were imaged and weighed, and the volume of tumors was monitored every 3 or 5 days and calculated as follows: Volume (mm3) = (length×(width2)/2).
Histological analysis and immunohistochemistry
Xenotransplant tumor samples were isolated and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Paraffin was used to embed the tumor tissues and then sectioned into a thickness of 5-μm. The paraffin sections were dewaxed, hydrated, and then stained with hematoxylin and counterstained with eosin. Antigen were retrieved by citrate buffer and blocked with 3% H2O2, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed with diluted primary KI67 antibody overnight at 4°C, followed by incubation with secondary antibody at room temperature. The slides were developed by diaminobenzidine (DAB) and stained with hematoxylin. IHC staining pictures were obtained under a light microscope.
Statistical analysis
All obtained data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation (SD). Differences Student’s t-test or one-way ANOVA followed by a Tukey’s post hoc test were used to compare data between two group or among multiple groups. Statistical difference was analyzed using GraphPad Prism 8.0 software. followed by a Tukey’s post hoc test.