Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have identified multiple changes in the gene-expression patterns of cells involved with tumor progression in liver cancer patients and in those with cirrhosis, which may help scientists predict a person’s risk of developing primary liver cancer.
About 3 million Americans are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus, HCV, which causes inflammation of the liver. It is the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States, and is the main cause of cirrhosis, which typically leads to primary liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC.
Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the world. Treatment options for primary liver cancer include chemotherapy, chemoembolization, ablation and proton-beam therapy. Liver transplantation offers the best chance for a cure in patients with small tumors and significant associated liver disease.
In a study published in the May 2004 issue of the journal Liver Transplantation, VCU School of Medicine researchers reported consistent differences between the gene-expression patterns in primary liver cancer due to HCV infection — HCV-HCC — and those of early HCV-cirrhosis, late HCV cirrhosis and normal control livers. They also observed consistent differences in the gene-expression patterns of the different stages of cirrhosis and the different stages of the cancer. These findings indicate the possibility for identifying prognostic factors associated with tumor progression in HCC.
“If we can detect particular gene and protein expressions that are leading to a potentially lethal disease, then we may be able to intervene before that potentially lethal disease becomes incurable, or eliminate those components before a patient becomes infected,” said lead investigator, Robert A. Fisher, M.D., director of the liver transplant program at the VCU Medical Center, and a professor of surgery.