Activating mechanism of transcriptor NF-kappaB regulated by hepatitis B virus X protein in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM:To investigate the mechanism and significance of NF-κB activation regulated by hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODS:The expression levels of HBx, p65,IκB-α and ubiquitin were detected by immunohistochemistry in HCC tissue microarrays (TMA) respectively, and IκB-α was detected by Western blot in HCC and corresponding liver tissues.RESULTS: The percentage of informative TMA samples was 98.8% in 186 cases with a total of 367 samples. Compared with corresponding liver tissues (60.0%),the HBx expression was obviously decreased in HBV-associated HCC (47.9%,u=2.24,P<0.05).On the contrary, the expressions of p65 (20.6% vs45.3%, u=4.85, P<0.01) and ubiquitin (8.9% vs 59.0%,u=9.68,P<0.01) were notably elevated in HCC.In addition, IκB-α had a tendency to go up. Importantly, positive relativity was observed between HBx and p65 (X^2=10.26,P<0.01), p65 and IκB-α (x^2=16.86,P<0.01), IκB-α and ubiquitin (x^2=8.90, P<0.01) in HCC, respectively.CONCLUSION:Both active and non-active forms of NF-κB are increased in HBV-associated HCC. Variant HBx is the major cause of the enhancement of NF-κB activity. The activation always proceeds in nucleus and the proteasome complexes play an important role in the activation.

TIP30 regulates apoptosis-related genes in its apoptotic signal transduction pathway

AIM: To investigate the role of TIP30 in apoptotic signal pathway in hepatoblastoma cells and to provide a basis for TIP30 as a gene therapy candidate in the regression of hepatoblastoma cells.METHODS: Apoptosis of human hepatoblastoma cell lines HepG2 (p53 wild), Hep3B (p53 null) and PLC/RPF/5 (p53mutant) infected with Ad-TIP30 (bearing a wild type human Tip30 gene) were analyzed and p53, Bax and Bclxl expression levels were compared among these cells.MlT assay, DNA fragmentation, in situ 3' end labeling of DNA, annexin-Ⅴ FITC staining were used to detect cell death and apoptosis in cells at various time intervals subsequent to infection, and to determine whether TIP30 had an effect on the expression levels of some apoptosis-related gene products such as Bax, p53 and Bcl-xl. A similar time course experiment was performed by Western blotting.RESULTS: In MTT assay, the viability of HepG2 cells decreased significantly from 99.7% to 10% and displayed more massive cell death within 5-8 d than Hep3B and PLC/RPF/5 cells, with their viability decreased from 97.8% to 44.3% and 98.1% to 50.4%, respectively. In annexin-ⅤFITC assay, the percentage of apoptosis cells in HepG2cells was two to three-fold higher than that in control cells (infected with Ad-GFP), two-fold higher than that in Hep3B cells and 1.4-fold higher than that in PLC/RPF/5 cells 36 h after infection, respectively. Moreover, in HepG2 cells, the p53 began to increase 6-8 h after infection, reaching a maximum level between 8 and 12 h after infection and then dropped. Bax showed a similar increase in the cells as p53 reached the maximum at 8-12 h and subsequently decreased. Interestingly, Bcl-xl protein levels were down regulated during 24 to 36 h after Ad-TIP30 infection. In contrast, ectopic expression of TIP30 in Hep3B and PLC/RPF/5 cells had no effect on the regulation of Bax expression, but had an effect on Bcl-xl levels. In comparison with HepG2 cells, these data suggested that up-regulation of p53 levels by TIP30 might be a pre-requisite for Bax and Bax/Bcl-xl ratio increase. We hypothesized that TIP30 might regulate Bax gene partly through p53, which sensitizes cells to apoptosis by involving a p53 apoptosis signal transduction pathway.CONCLUSION: TIP30 plays an important role in predisposing hepatoblastoma cells to apoptosis through regulating expression levels of these genes. Ad-TIP30carrying exogenous TIP30-anti-tumor genes may be regarded as a potential candidate for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Different alterations of cytochrome P450 3A4 isoform and its gene expression in livers of patients with chronic liver diseases

AIM: To determine whether parenchymal cells or hepaticcytochrome P450 protein was changed in chronic liverdiseases, and to compare the difference of CYP3A4 enzymeand its gene expression between patients with hepaticcirrhosis and obstructive jaundice, and to investigate thepharmacologic significance behind this difference.METHODS: Liver samples were obtained from patientsundergoing hepatic surgery with hepatic cirrhosis (n=6) andobstructive jaundice (n=6) and hepatic angeioma (controls,n=6). CYP3A4 activity and protein were determined by Nashand western bloting using specific polychonal antibody,respectively. Total hepatic RNA was extracted andCYP3A4cDNA probe was prepared according the methodof random primer marking, and difference of cyp3a4expression was compared among those patients byNorthern blotting.RESULTS: Compared to control group, the CYP3A4 activityand protein in liver tissue among patients with cirrhosis wereevidently reduced. (P＜0.01) Northern blot showed the samechange in its mRNA levels. In contrast, the isoenzyme andits gene expression were not changed among patients withobstructive jaundice.CONCLUSION: Hepatic levels of P450s and its CYP3A4isoform activity were selectively changed in different chronicliver diseases. CYP3A4 isoenzyme and its activity declinedamong patients with hepatic cirrhosis as expression of cyp3a4gene was significantly reduced. Liver's ability to eliminatemany clinical therateutic drug substrates would declineconsequently, These findings may have practical implicationsfor the use of drugs in patients with cirrhosis and emphasizethe need to understand the metabolic fate of therapeuticcompounds. Elucidation of the reasons for these differentchanges in hepatic CYP3A4 may provide insight into morefundamental aspects and mechanisms of imparied liverfunction.

Homozygosity for Pro of p53 Arg72Pro as a potential risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma in Chinese population

AIM: Codon 72 exon 4 polymorphism (Arg72Pro) of the p53 gene has been implicated in cancer risk. Our objective was to investigate the possible association between p53Arg72Pro polymorphism and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among Chinese population.METHODS: The p53 Arg72Pro genotypes were determined by PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis in 507 HCC cases and 541 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) for HCC and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)from unconditional logistic regression models were used to evaluate relative risks. Potential risk factors were included in the logistic regression models as covariates in the multivariate analyses on genotype and HCC.RESULTS: The frequencies for Pro and Arg alleles were 44.5%, 55.5% in HCC cases, and 40.3% and 59.7% in controls, respectively. The Pro allele was significantly associated with the presence of HCC (P = 0.05) and had a higher risk for HCC (OR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.00-1.41) as compared with the Arg allele. After adjusted for potential risk factors, Arg/Pro heterozygotes had an 1.21-fold increased risk (95% CI 0.82-1.78, P = 0.34) of HCC compared with Arg homozygotes, whereas the risk for Pro homozygotes was 1.79 (95% CI 1.06-3.01, P = 0.03) times higher than that for Arg homozygotes. Pro-allele carriers had a higher relative risk of HCC than the Arg-only carriers (adjusted OR = 1.33, 95% CI 0.92-1.92, P = 0.13), although the difference was not statistically significant.CONCLUSION: Homozygosity for Pro of p53 Arg72Pro is potentially one of the genetic risk factors for HCC in Chinese population. The p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism may be used as a stratification marker in screening individuals at a high risk of HCC.

Expression of cytochrome P4502E1 gene in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To investigate cytpchrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) gene expression in occurrence and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: The human liver arrayed library was spotted onto the nylon membranes to make cDNA array. Hybridization of cDNA array was performed with labeled probes synthesized from RNA isolated from HCC and adjacent liver tissues. Sprague-Dawley rats were administrated diethyInitrosamine (DENA) to induce HCC. CYP2E1 expression was detected by the method of RT-PCR and Northern blot analysis. RESULTS: CYP2E1 was found by cDNA array hybridization to express differently between HCC and liver tissues. CYP2E1 only expressed in liver, but did not express in HCC tissues and expressed lowly in cirrhotic tissues. In the progression of cirrhosis and HCC, the expression level of CYP2E1 was gradually decreased and hardly detected until the late stage of HCC. CONCLUSION: Using arrayed library to make cDNA arrays is an effective method to find differential expression genes. CYP2E1 is a unique gene expressing in liver but did not express in HCC. CYP2E1 expression descended along with the initiation and progression of HCC, which is noteworthy further investigations in its significance in the development of HCC.

c-src activating mutation analysis in Chinese patients with colorectal cancer

AIM: To investigate the occurrence of cellular src (c-src)activating mutation at codon 531 in colorectal cancer patients from Chinese mainland.METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay followed by sequencing and single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis were carried out to screen 110 samples of primary colorectal cancer and 20 colorectal liver metastases.RESULTS: Only one sample showed PCR-RFLP-positive results and carried somatic codon 531 mutations. No additional mutation of c-src exon 12 was found.CONCLUSION: c-src codon 531 mutation in colorectal cancer is not the cause of c-src activation.