title: Glypican-3 is overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: To identify candidate genes that could be used as diagnostic and therapeutic targets for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we searched for the genes that are overexpressed in HCC by combining representational difference analysis and microarray. Genes such as glypican-3 (GPC3), insulin-like growth factor 2, long-chain fatty-acid-coenzyme A ligase 4, farnesyl diphosphate synthase were frequently identified in our screening. Northern blot analysis with these four genes confirmed their overexpression in HCC. Among them we found that GPC3 transcript is upregulated in six out of seven cases of HCC. Immunoblot and immunohistochemical staining using polyclonal anti-GPC3 antibodies further confirmed that GPC3 protein is indeed increased in HCC tumor samples. We also found that GPC3 is secreted into culture media from cell lines derived from HCC. We conclude that GPC3 is a good molecular marker for HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Kyungpook National University Medical School, Chung-gu, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young Kwan
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Sun Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Mi Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farooq
authors.forename: In Sook
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Han Ik
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Jung-Chul
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Moonkyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D053673:Glypicans; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017931:DNA Primers; C105937:GPC3 protein, human; D053673:Glypicans; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins