Genes directly regulated by NF-κB in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 [RNA-seq]

Over activation of NF-κB has close relationship with hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, by manipulating NF-κB activity with its recognized activator TNFα and using ChIP-seq and RNA-seq techniques, we identified 699 NF-κB direct target genes (DTGs) in a widely used HCC cell line, HepG2, including 399 activated and 300 repressed genes. In these NF-κB DTGs, 216 genes (126 activated and 90 repressed genes) are among the current HCC gene signature. Functional annotation revealed that NF-κB DTGs in HepG2 cell are mainly related with many typical NF-κB-related biological processes, such as immune system process, response to stress, response to stimulus, defense response and signaling pathways of NF-kappa B. Some NF-κB DTGs are also involved in Hepatitis C and B pathways. The NF-κB DTGs were further confirmed by detecting the NF-κB binding and expression of 14 genes with ChIP-PCR and RT-PCR. RNA-seq was performed to determine the transcriptional effects of uninduced, TNFα-induced and siRNA and TNFα dually treated HepG2 cells with two biological replicates.