Proteomic analysis of differentially expressed proteins in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma tissues

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a major cause of cancer death in China, is preceded by chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis (LC). Although hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been regarded as a clear etiology of human hepatocarcinogenesis, the mechanism is still needs to be further clarified. In this study, we used a proteomic approach to identify the differential expression protein profiles between HCC and the adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues.

Eighteen cases of HBV-related HCC including 12 cases of LC-developed HCC and 6 cases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-developed HCC were analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), and the results were compared to those of paired adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues.

A total of 17 differentially expressed proteins with diverse biological functions were identified. Among these, 10 proteins were up-regulated, whereas the other 7 proteins were down-regulated in cancerous tissues. Two proteins, c-Jun N-terminal kinase 2 and ADP/ATP carrier protein were found to be up-regulated only in CHB-developed HCC tissues. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 and Rho-GTPase-activating protein 4 were down-regulated in LC-developed and CHB-developed HCC tissues, respectively. Although 11 out of these 17 proteins have been already described by previous studies, or are already known to be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis, this study revealed 6 new proteins differentially expressed in HBV-related HCC.

These findings elucidate that there are common features between CHB-developed HCC and LC-developed HCC. The identified proteins are valuable for studying the hepatocarcinogenesis, and may be potential diagnostic markers or therapeutic targets for HBV-related HCC.