β-arrestin1 is involved in hepatocellular carcinogenesis via an inflammation-mediated Akt signal

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the main form of liver cancer, is the sixth most common cancer and the third most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide1. The exact mechanism of HCC initiation and development is still unclear, though inflammation has been shown to play a key role in this progression. Herein, we performed a gene expression assay to screen for alterative expression of genes among normal liver tissues, HCC tissues and its paracancer tissues with hepatitis. A gene assay to screen the expression of total RNA in liver tissues, including 3 normal liver tissues, 3 HCC paracancer specimens and 3 HCC samples with HBV-induced hepatitis. The normal liver samples were obtained from normal hepatic tissue in three hepatic hemangioma surgical operative patients, and three matched pairs of HCC and its paracancer tissues were respectively obtained from three HCC surgical operative patients without any chemotherapy and radiotherapy.