Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 15, 2026
Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Gene expression analysis for evaluation of potential biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma
Holger G Hass1, Holger Hass, Juergen Jobst2
1Department of Oncology, Paracelsus Hospital, Scheidegg, Germany dr.holger.hass@paracelsus-kliniken.de
Background:
The poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the lack of specific screening markers underline the need for new biomarkers for human hepatocarcinogenesis.
Materials And Methods:
We investigated 10 postulated biomarkers for HCC (AFP, GPC3, OPN, IGF1, HGF, SPINK1, KPNA, FUCA1, CgA, HSP90) with microarray gene expression analysis and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in HCC tissues of different etiologies.
Results:
Four candidate genes (FUCA1, HGF, IGF1, CgA) showed low median fold changes (fc) of expression compared to corresponding non-malignant liver tissues (fc range=0.2-0.8; maximum 15% of samples). The classic biomarker, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), was significantly over-expressed (fc=2.4) in 30% of tumors. High tumor AFP expression was associated with significantly elevated serum AFP concentrations (>90% of cases). Five genes (OPN, SPINK1, GPC3, HSP90, KNPA2) showed significantly higher expression than AFP in 64% to 82% of samples (median fc range=2.9-8.3). RT-PCR analyses gave similar results.
Conclusion:
Unlike previous studies, our results did not confirm FUCA1, HGF, IGF1 or CgA as potential markers for HCC. In contrast, OPN, SPINK1, GPC3 and KNPA2 were significantly over-expressed in HCC tissues. These genes may be useful in developing future biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for HCC.
