Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The aim of this study was to clarify the association between the epigenetic instability phenotype and the chromosomal instability phenotype in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sixty primary HCC tumors were examined. Methylation status for nine CpG islands (the p16, COX2, GSTP1, RASSF1A, E-cadherin, and APC gene promoters, and the MINT 1, 25, and 31 clones) was evaluated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. Chromosomal structural alterations of these 60 HCC tumors were characterized in our previous study by using whole genomic array-based comparative genomic hybridization. We found that the epigenetic instability phenotype and the chromosomal instability phenotype are not mutually exclusive in hepatocarcinogenesis and that they do not show a simple cause-and-effect relationship. Hepatitis virus infection in the background liver was significantly associated with these instability phenotypes. Furthermore, we identified an epigenetic instability-dependent HCC that shows frequent epigenetic aberrations without chromosomal instability. It was noteworthy that epigenetic instability-positive and -negative HCCs displayed distinctive combinations of chromosomal structural alterations. In summary, by combined analyses of genetic and epigenetic aberration profiles in HCC, we obtained a comprehensive view of genomic alterations in hepatocarcinogenesis. Our results have clinical relevance because epigenetic instability-dependent HCCs may respond well to methylation inhibitory therapies.
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PMID:Epigenetic instability and chromosomal instability in hepatocellular carcinoma. 1656 10

Gene silencing through aberrant CpG island methylation is a frequent epigenetic defect in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, nothing is known as yet whether aberrant hypermethylation occurs already in non-neoplastic liver cells from patients with hereditary haemochromatosis who have a clearly elevated risk for developing HCC. Therefore, quantitative real-time PCR-based methylation analysis of six genes frequently hypermethylated in HCC (RASSF1A, cyclinD2, p16(INK4a), GSTpi1, SOCS-1, APC) was performed for liver biopsies from patients with hereditary haemochromatosis. For genotyping of the HFE gene restriction enzyme analysis and Pyrosequencing were used. Transcriptional repression of hypermethylated genes was assessed using real-time RT-PCR. Eighty-four percent of all samples with severe hepatic iron overload and a mutated HFE gene (but without HCC) had at least one gene hypermethylated. All six genes tested were affected by aberrant hypermethylation, albeit to a different extent: RASSF1A 55%, cyclinD2 45%, p16(INK4a) 32%, GSTpi1 10%, SOCS-1 6%, APC 8%. Concomitant transcriptional down-regulation was shown for RASSF1A, cyclinD2, GSTpi1 and SOCS-1. Biopsies from haemochromatosis patients showed significantly more aberrant hypermethylation than normal liver tissue or benign liver tumours (P < 0.001) and also to a higher degree. This effect is independent of patient age, cirrhosis or hepatitis infection. This is the first report demonstrating that longstanding severe iron overload is frequently associated with epigenetic defects characteristic of HCC, which reflects the increased risk of these lesions to progress to HCC. Thus, changes in DNA methylation patterns are an early event preceding morphological alterations of malignant transformation and represent promising targets for early detection.
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PMID:Epigenetic defects of hepatocellular carcinoma are already found in non-neoplastic liver cells from patients with hereditary haemochromatosis. 1741 60

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) most commonly arises from chronic inflammation due to viral infection, as a result of genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. A global picture of epigenetic changes in HCC is lacking. We used methylated CpG island amplification microarrays (MCAMs) to study 6458 CpG islands in HCC and adjacent preneoplastic tissues [chronic hepatitis (CH) or liver cirrhosis (LC)] in comparison with normal liver tissues where neither viral infection nor hepatitis has existed. MCAM identified 719 (11%) prominent genes of hypermethylation in HCCs. HCCs arising from LC had significantly more methylation than those arising from CH (1249 genes or 19% versus 444 genes or 7%, P < 0.05). There were four patterns of aberrant methylation: Type I (4%, e.g. matrix metalloproteinase 14) shows a substantially high methylation level in adjacent tissue and does not increase further in cancer. Type II (55%, e.g. RASSF1A) shows progressively increasing methylation from adjacent tissue to HCC. Type III (4%, e.g. GNA14) shows decreased methylation in adjacent tissue but either similar or increased methylation in HCC. Type IV (37%, e.g. CDKN2A) shows low levels of methylation in normal tissue and adjacent tissue but high levels in HCC. These DNA methylation changes were confirmed by quantitative pyrosequencing methylation analysis in representative 24 genes and were analyzed for correlation with clinicopathological parameters in 38 patients. Intriguingly, methylation in the Type IV genes is characteristic of moderately/poorly differentiated cancer. Our global epigenome analysis reveals distinct patterns of methylation that are probably to represent different pathophysiologic processes in HCCs.
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PMID:Variable DNA methylation patterns associated with progression of disease in hepatocellular carcinomas. 1863 56

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a hepatotropic virus causing hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The methylation status of the HBV DNA in its different forms can potentially provide insight into the pathogenesis of HBV-related liver diseases, including HCC, however this is unclear. The goal of this study is to obtain comprehensive DNA methylation profiles of the three putative CpG islands in the HBV DNA in infected livers, with respect to liver disease progression. The extent of methylation in these CpG islands was first assessed using bisulfite PCR sequencing with a small set of tissue samples, followed by analysis using both quantitative bisulfite-specific PCR and quantitative methylation-specific PCR assays in a larger sample size (n = 116). The level of HBV CpG island 3 methylation significantly correlated with hepatocarcinogenesis. We also obtained, for the first time, evidence of rare, non-CpG methylation in CpG island 2 of the HBV genome in infected liver. Comparing methylation of the HBV genome to three known HCC-associated host genes, APC, GSTP1, and RASSF1A, we did not identify a significant correlation between these two groups.
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PMID:Comprehensive DNA methylation analysis of hepatitis B virus genome in infected liver tissues. 2600 Jul 61