Gene expression profiling of hepatitis B- and hepatitis C-related hepatocellular carcinoma using graphical Gaussian modeling. Homo sapiens

Gene expression profiling of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and background liver has been studied extensively; however, the relationship between the gene expression profiles of different lesions has not been assessed. We examined the expression profiles of 34 HCC specimens (17 hepatitis B virus [HBV]-related and 17 hepatitis C virus [HCV]-related) and 71 non-tumor liver specimens (36 chronic hepatitis B [CH-B] and 35 chronic hepatitis C [CH-C]) using an in-house cDNA microarray consisting of liver-predominant genes. Graphical Gaussian modeling (GGM) was applied to elucidate the interactions of gene clusters among the HCC and non-tumor lesions. Gene expression profiling of HCC and non-tumor lesions revealed the predisposing changes of gene expression in HCC. This approach has potential for the early diagnosis and possible prevention of HCC. Overall design: We examined the expression profiles of 34 HCC specimens (17 hepatitis B virus [HBV]-related and 17 hepatitis C virus [HCV]-related) and 71 non-tumor liver specimens (36 chronic hepatitis B [CH-B] and 35 chronic hepatitis C [CH-C]) using an in-house cDNA microarray consisting of liver-predominant genes. Graphical Gaussian modeling (GGM) was applied to elucidate the interactions of gene clusters among the HCC and non-tumor lesions.