Original Research
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2001. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 15, 2001; 7(6): 821-825
Published online Dec 15, 2001. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v7.i6.821
Expression of liver cancer associated gene HCCA3
Zheng-Xu Wang, Gui-Fang Hu, Hong-Yang Wang, Meng-Chao Wu
Zheng-Xu Wang, Gui-Fang Hu, Department of General Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China
Hong-Yang Wang, Meng-Chao Wu, Eastern Hepatobilliary Surgical Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China No. 30000077, and Science Funds for Post-doctoral Studies (1999[10]), and Medicial and Health Project Funds of Chinese PLA Lanzhou Command (LXH01-01)
Correspondence to: Dr. Zheng-Xu Wang, Department of General Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command, No. 98, Xiaoxihu West Street, Block Qilihe, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China. zhxwang18@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-931-8975301, Fax: +86-931-2661767
Received: June 11, 2001
Revised: August 19, 2001
Accepted: September 26, 2001
Published online: December 15, 2001
Abstract

AIM: To study and clone a novel liver cancer related gene, and to explore the molecular basis of liver cancer genesis.

METHODS: Using mRNA differential display polymerase chain reaction (DDPCR), we investigated the difference of mRNA in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and paired surrounding liver tissues, and got a gene probe. By screening a human placenta cDNA library and genomic homologous extend, we obtained a full-length cDNA named HCCA3. We analyzed the expression of this novel gene in 42 pairs of HCC and the surrounding liver tissues, and distribution in human normal tissues by means of Northern blot assay.

RESULTS: A full-length cDNA of liver cancer associated gene HCCA3 has been submitted to the GeneBank nucleotide sequence databases (Accession No. AF276707). The positive expression rate of this gene was 78.6% (33/42) in HCC tissues, and the clinical pathological data showed that the HCCA3 was closely associated with the invasion of tumor capsule (P = 0.023) and adjacant small metastasis satellite nodules lesions (P = 0.041). The HCCA3 was widely distributed in the human normal tissues, which was intensively expressed in lungs, brain and colon tissues, while lowly expressed in the liver tissues.

CONCLUSION: A novel full-length cDNA was cloned and differentiated, which was highly expressed in liver cancer tissues. The high expression was closely related to the tumor invasiveness and metastasis, that may be the late heredited change in HCC genesis.

Keywords: Carcinoma, hepatocellular/genetics; DNA, Complementary/genetics; Liver neoplasms/genetics; RNA, messenger/genetics; Gene expression; Polymerase chain reaction