Hepatocellular carcinoma in HCV-infected patients awaiting liver transplantation: genes involved in tumor progression.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in the world. The present study aimed to investigate the genes involved in viral carcinogenesis and tumor progression in liver transplant recipients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HCC. To accomplish this, we performed the analysis of hepatic gene expression in HCV-infected liver recipient patients with stages of disease ranging from early cirrhosis with preserved volume and function to late cirrhosis with diminished volume and function with and without HCC. We found consistent differences between the gene expression patterns in HCV-HCC and those of early HCV-cirrhosis, late HCV cirrhosis, and normal control livers. The expression patterns in HCC were also readily distinguished between early and advanced HCC tumor stages. Moreover, we found different gene expression patterns between early cirrhosis and late cirrhosis. In conclusion, these findings confirm the presence of multiple molecular alterations during HCV-HCC hepatocarcinogenesis and, clinically, indicate the possibility for identifying prognostic factors associated with HCC progression in liver transplant patients waiting for a donor and/or posttransplantation recurrence.
Mas
Valeria R
VR
Division of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. 23298, USA.
Maluf
Daniel G
DG
Stravitz
Richard
R
Dumur
Catherine I
CI
Clark
Bradly
B
Rodgers
Cheryl
C
Ferreira-Gonzalez
Andrea
A
Fisher
Robert A
RA
D000328:Adult; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000601:surgery / Q000821:virology; D018450:Disease Progression; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000601:surgery / Q000821:virology; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017510:Protein Folding; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000235:genetics
D006023:Glycoproteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta