[Molecular aspects of human hepatocellular carcinoma]

It is now evident that development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in human is associated with a long series of cellular and tissue changes that precede the ultimate development of the cancer. During recent years, enormous progress in molecular research on HCC has been made, particularly in the area of integration of HBV DNA to host cell and oncogene association with carcinogenicity. A high ratio of HCCs from patients in endemic area has integrated HBV DNA in cellular DNA and in some cases, chromosomal translocations associated with HBV integration were observed, suggesting that the integration or the results thereof are connected with cancer development. Employing a DNA-mediated transfection assay using NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts with high molecular weight DNA, we detected three cellular transforming genes (lca, N-ras, hst) in primary human HCC. However, little is known as to the linkage between the activation of these genes and liver carcinogenesis. In most human primary HCC tissues, at least two oncogenes, c-myc and N-ras are overexpressed, while in some cases other oncogenes c-fos or lca are overexpressed. It is likely that multiple c-oncogens are important in HCC, but specific transcripts for the malignancy of HCC were not detected. At present, we could not find any relationship between the expression of c-oncogenes and integration of HBV, serological markers or the degree of differentiation. Of the experimental animals most frequently used for studies of liver cancer, the rat is best understood and mimics closely many of the lesions in humans. It is of interest to consider that the identification and elucidation of the mechanisms underlying carcinogenic processes in the rat may offer testable hypotheses for steps in the human.