Large-scale gene expression profiling of 81 hepatocellular carcinomas

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is ranked second in cancer-associated deaths worldwide. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitis infection (hepatitis B or C) or cirrhosis (alcoholism being the most common cause of hepatic cirrhosis). It is a complex and heterogeneous tumor due to activation of multiple cellular pathways and molecular alterations. HCC liver tumors corresponding to 81 patients. In all cases, tumor samples were frozen (-80°C) after hepatic resection at diagnosis. Normal liver samples were used as reference samples. Comparative gene expression analysis was done using Affymetrix U133plus v2 array (GPL570)