Transcriptomics of an in vitro model of sorafenib resistance in Huh7 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often diagnosed in patients with advanced disease who are ineligible for curative surgical therapies. Sorafenib, a multi-kinase inhibitor, is currently the only approved drug used in treating such patients. However, patients rapidly become unresponsive due to inherent and acquired drug resistance. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying sorafenib resistance in HCC at a global level in an unbiased manner, we conducted gene expression analysis using in vitro models of HCC sorafenib resistance using the Huh7 cell line, including a resistant pool of cells and a specific clone derived from the resistant pool. Untreated parental Huh7 HCC cells (n=3), Sorafenib-resistant pool Huh7 cells (n=3), Sorafenib-resistant clone A7 Huh7 cells (n=3)