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Updated: Jul 2, 2026
A Protocol for Analyzing Hepatitis C Virus Replication
Published on: June 26, 2014
Quantitative analysis of fluorouracil-related genes in chronic viral hepatitis using microdissection
Daisuke Kakinuma1, Hiroshi Yoshida, Yasuhiro Mamada
1Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, 113-8603, Japan. kdaisuke@nms.ac.jp
Background/Aims:
Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase is the initial and rate-limiting enzyme in the catabolism of 5-fluorouracil. The aim of this study was to determine the levels of messenger RNA for 5-fluorouracil-related metabolic enzymes in cirrhotic liver and to assess the correlation between these mRNA levels and clinicopathological features.
Methodology:
The study material consisted of 33 liver samples. The levels of mRNA for the 5- fluorouracil-related metabolic enzymes were quantified by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction combined with laser-captured microdissection.
Results:
The Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase mRNA level in patients with grade B liver damage was significantly lower than that in patients with grade A liver damage (p=0.009). The Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase and orotate phosphoribosyl transferase mRNA level in al samples was higher than that in a2 and a3 samples (p= 0.01 and 0.013, respectively). Statistically significant correlations were found between the hyaluronic acid and the thymidylate phosphorylase mRNA level (p= 0.0001), and the T-BIL and the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase mRNA level (p=0.01).
Conclusions:
The level of Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase mRNA may be affected by the clinicopathological status of patients with cirrhosis.
