title: Down-regulation of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfotransferase gene in human hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Differential display (DD) PCR cloning of differentially expressed genes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and adjacent unaffected tissue demonstrated preferential down-regulation of a vital sex steroid precursor (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfotransferase; DHEA-ST; SULT2A1) in HCC. SULT2A1 mRNA and/or protein expression in HCC were markedly reduced in 61 of 120 (50.8%) primary unicentric HCCs. The down-regulation was more frequent in grade III versus grade I HCC (68.1% versus 32.1%, P = 0.0025), and in stage 3 versus stage 1 HCC (62.7% versus 29.2%, P = 0.007). The lowered expression in tumor cells of SULT2A1 in HCC tissues involved in metabolism and/or inactivation of sex steroids is consistent with a regulatory role of the SULT2A1 gene product in the development and/or tumor cell differentiation and progression of human HCC. This suggestion is partly supported by our observations that the down-regulated SULT2A1 gene expression correlated with a higher grade and stage of HCC.
authors.affiliation: Chungtai Institute of Health Sciences and Technology, Department of Medical Technology, No. 11, Pu-tzu Lane, Pei-tun Distr., Taichung 406, Taiwan. Irhuang@chtai.ctc.edu.tw
authors.forename: Lan-Ru
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Michael W H
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Coughtrie
authors.forename: Hey-Chi
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D018450:Disease Progression; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D015238:Sulfotransferases / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015238:Sulfotransferases; C019998:dehydroepiandrosterone sulfotransferase