Study record
MOTS-c relieves hepatocellular carcinoma resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis under hypoxic conditions by activating MEF2A
Shen H, Nie J, Wang X et al. · Exp Cell Res · 2025
Human obs.SeveralEvidence tier BAlso: Cell study (in vitro)Also: Animal study (in vivo)
What this study reported
Measured lower blood MOTS-c in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma than in healthy individuals. In hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines under hypoxia and in tumour-bearing mice, MOTS-c was associated with greater TRAIL-induced apoptosis and with higher MEF2A, DR4 and DR5 expression following AMPK phosphorylation.
Limitations
Patient numbers are not reported and the clinical comparison is correlative; cell work uses two lines under induced hypoxia; tumours were grown in immunodeficient mice, which cannot model tumour immunity.
Study record
| Study model | Human observational |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | SeveralMore than one of these is central to the paper (common for reviews). |
| Species | human, mouse |
| System studied | Peripheral blood MOTS-c from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and healthy controls, plus Huh7 and HCCLM3 cells under hypoxia and nude mouse tumour models |
| Population | patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and healthy controls |
| Design | Patient-sample comparison with cell and animal tumour experiments |
| Sample size as reported | Not reported |
| Control group | healthy controls; untreated cells and mice |
| Route (data field only) | Not reported |
| Endpoints measured | blood MOTS-c; cell viability; apoptosis; MEF2A, DR4 and DR5 expression; tumour growth in mice |
| Pathways measured | Apoptosis · AMPK signalling |
| Research areas | Cancer · Liver |
| Evidence tier | B — Other human study |
| Publication types | Journal Article |
Appraisal
Each dimension is recorded separately and never combined into a single score. A study can be well controlled and still tell you little about people.
- Relevance to MOTS-c
- Direct
- Model applicability
- Human
- Sample size
- Not reported
- Controls
- Appropriate
- Outcome validity
- Surrogate
- Support for its own conclusion
- Moderate
Provenance
- Bibliographic fields retrieved from PubMed E-utilities efetch (title, journal, date, authors, DOI) on 2026-11-11.
- Annotated from the published abstract.
- Editorial review: approved (2026-11-11).
- Classification follows the site methodology; the record describes the study, not what MOTS-c does in people.