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Rationale:  Protein kinases are critical therapeutic targets for curing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). As a serine/threonine kinase, the potential roles of serine/threonine kinase 39 (STK39) in HCC remain to be explored.   Methods:  The expression of STK39 was examined by RT-qPCR, western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were detected by CCK8 and TUNEL kit. Cell migration and invasion assays were performed using a transwell system with or without Matrigel. RNA-seq, mass spectrometry and luciferase reporter assays were used to identify STK39 binding proteins.   Results:  Here, we firstly report that STK39 was highly overexpressed in clinical HCC tissues compared with adjacent tissues, high expression of STK39 was induced by transcription factor SP1 and correlated with poor patient survival. Gain and loss of function assays revealed that overexpression of STK39 promoted HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. In contrast, the depletion of STK39 attenuated the growth and metastasis of HCC cells. Moreover, knockdown of STK39 induced the HCC cell cycle arrested in the G2/M phase and promoted apoptosis. In mechanistic studies, RNA-seq revealed that STK39 positively regulated the ERK signaling pathway. Mass spectrometry identified that STK39 bound to PLK1 and STK39 promoted HCC progression and activated ERK signaling pathway dependent on PLK1.   Conclusions:  Thus, our study uncovers a novel role of STK39/PLK1/ERK signaling axis in the progress of HCC and suggests STK39 as an indicator for prognosis and a potential drug target of HCC.

STK39 is a novel kinase contributing to the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma by the PLK1/ERK signaling pathway