title: MicroRNA profiles in various hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-associated mortality worldwide. Although surgery is considered the most effective treatment for patients with HCC, its indication is restricted by limited criteria and a high relapse rate following surgery; therefore, systemic chemotherapy is required for patients with advanced-stage HCC to prolong their survival. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs of 18-22 nucleotides in length. It has been reported that aberrant expression of miRNAs is a feature shared by various types of human cancer. Previous studies have indicated that the modulation of non-coding RNAs, particularly miRNAs, may be a valuable therapeutic target for HCC. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the miRNA profiles associated with differentiation and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection observed in HCC cell lines. The human Alex, Hep3B, HepG2, HuH1, HuH7, JHH1, JHH2, JHH5, JHH6, HLE, HLF and Li-7 HCC cell lines were used for an miRNA array. Replicate data were analyzed following their classification into: i) Poorly- and well-differentiated human HCC cells and ii) HBV-positive and -negative human HCC cells. Out of the 1,719 miRNAs, 4 were found to be significantly upregulated and 52 significantly downregulated in the poorly-differentiated cells, as compared with the well-differentiated cells. Conversely, in the HBV-positive cells 125 miRNAs were found to be upregulated and 2 downregulated, as compared with the HBV-negative cells. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis with Pearson's correlation revealed that the miRNA expression levels were clustered both together and separately in each group. In conclusion, miRNA profile characterization based on various parameters may be a novel approach to determine the etiology of HCC.
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Asahiro
authors: A
authors: Morishita
authors: Life Science Research Center, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Hisakazu
authors: H
authors: Iwama
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Shintaro
authors: S
authors: Fujihara
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Teppei
authors: T
authors: Sakamoto
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Koji
authors: K
authors: Fujita
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Joji
authors: J
authors: Tani
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Hisaaki
authors: H
authors: Miyoshi
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Hirohito
authors: H
authors: Yoneyama
authors: Department of Medical Technology, Kagawa Prefectual University of Health Sciences, Kagawa 761-0123, Japan.
authors: Takashi
authors: T
authors: Himoto
authors: Department of Gastroenterology and Neurology, Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa 761-0793, Japan.
authors: Tsutomu
authors: T
authors: Masaki
keywords: differentiation; hepatitis B virus-infected hepatocellular carcinoma; hepatocellular carcinoma; microRNA array; microRNA profiles