title: Increased expression of ErbB-2 in liver is associated with hepatitis B x antigen and shorter survival in patients with liver cancer.
abstract: Hepatitis B x antigen, or HBxAg, contributes importantly to the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Given that HBxAg constitutively activates beta-catenin and that upregulated ErbB-2 promotes beta-catenin signaling in other tumor types, experiments were designed to ask whether HBxAg was associated with upregulated expression of ErbB-2. When HBxAg positive and negative HepG2 cells were subjected to proteomics analysis, ErbB-2 was shown to be upregulated in HepG2X but not control cells. ErbB-2 was also strongly upregulated in HB infected liver, and weakly in some HCC nodules, where it correlated with HBxAg expression. Among tumor bearing patients, strong ErbB-2 staining in the liver was associated with dysplasia, and a shorter survival after tumor diagnosis. This implies that elevated ErbB-2 is an early marker of HCC. Treatment of HepG2X cells with ErbB-2 specific siRNA not only reduced ErbB-2 expression, but also reduced the expression of beta-catenin, suggesting that ErbB-2 contributed to the stabilization of beta-catenin. ErbB-2 specific siRNA also partially blocked the ability of HBxAg to promote DNA synthesis and growth of HepG2 cells. These results suggest that ErbB-2/beta-catenin up-regulation contributes importantly to the mechanism of HBxAg mediated hepatocellular growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahiekpor
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xianxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arbuthnot
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kew
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Feitelson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015153:Blotting, Western; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000556:secondary; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000494:pharmacology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D015534:Trans-Activators; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; D051176:beta Catenin; C057628:hepatitis B virus X protein; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human