Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We have created transgenic mice lines in which SV40 T and c-myc expression was controlled by the L-pyruvate kinase gene regulatory region which is responsible for hepatic and pancreatic expression specificity, and strong dependence of this expression upon the carbohydrate composition of the diet. Models of hepatoma and endocrine pancreatic tumors have been obtained. Both tumors were dependent upon the diet, since carbohydrates strongly increased frequency and precocity of both hepatic and pancreatic carcinomas.
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PMID:[Creation of diet-dependent cancer models in transgenic animals]. 803 92

A series of changes in the genes that control hepatocyte growth, or interference with the protein products of these genes, appears to have an important role in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Mutations of the p53 tumor suppressor gene have been identified in 30-50% of HCC patients in some geographic areas. Abnormalities of the RB tumor suppressor gene have been found in 20-25% of HCCs, including 80-86% of HCCs with p53 mutations. Overexpression of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha), insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), and the oncogenes N-ras, c-myc, and c-fos have been found in high percentages of HCC patients. The cumulative effect of these changes may be more important than the order in which they occur. Some of these changes may explain the mechanism(s) by which the hepatitis B virus participates in the development of HCC.
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PMID:Tumor suppressor genes, growth factor genes, and oncogenes in hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma. 804 25

The genetic components required for glucocorticoid induction of apoptosis were studied by using somatic cell hybridization. Intertypic whole-cell hybrids were generated by crossing the glucocorticoid-resistant rat liver cell line Fado-2 with the glucocorticoid-sensitive mouse thymoma cell line BW5147.3. Morphological and biochemical criteria were used to assess sensitivity or resistance to glucocorticoid-induced cell death. Both phenotypes were observed, and all of the hybrids retained a functional glucocorticoid receptor as judged by their abilities to induce the metallothionein gene in response to dexamethasone (Dex). Sensitivity to apoptosis did not correlate with morphological phenotype in that not all suspension cells were sensitive. The effect of glucocorticoids on the expression of apoptosis-linked genes was analyzed in a subset of Dex-sensitive and Dex-resistant hybrids. p53 and c-myc mRNAs were present in parental cells as well as sensitive and resistant hybrid cells, and their levels were not affected by glucocorticoid treatment. bcl-2 expression was restricted to the thymoma cell line and was also not affected by glucocorticoids. We did not detect any bcl-2 mRNA in the hepatoma cell line and the hybrids, suggesting that, as with most tissue-specific genes, bcl-2 is regulated in trans. Furthermore, while the majority of hybrids analyzed retained a full complement of mouse chromosomes, sensitive hybrids were missing some rat chromosomes (preferentially chromosomes 16 and 19), indicating that apoptosis is subject to trans repression. Resistant cells thus appear to repress the activity or synthesis of a nuclear factor that interacts with a glucocorticoid-dependent gene(s) to activate the cell death pathway.
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PMID:Evidence for trans regulation of apoptosis in intertypic somatic cell hybrids. 806 45

The high oncogenic efficiency of woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) has been correlated with the ability of this virus to provoke insertional activation of myc family genes. To assess the impact of viral integration on liver cell transformation, we have generated transgenic mice carrying the mutated c-myc gene and adjacent viral DNA from a woodchuck tumor, in original configuration. Virtually all mice from two different strains developed hepatocellular carcinoma with a mean latency period of 8-12 months. The c-myc transgene was expressed transiently in neonatal livers, and re-expressed at preneoplastic and neoplastic stages in adult livers. Woodchuck c-myc mRNA driven by the normal P1 and P2 promoters and WHV-specific transcripts encoding viral surface antigens were produced in a strictly co-regulated fashion during development and tumorigenesis, indicating a predominant regulatory influence of the viral enhancer. Furthermore, the activity of the viral enhancer in response to various biological stimuli was apparently modulated by glucose uptake and glucagon/insulin balance in differentiated hepatocytes. In this model, a viral integration event selected from a naturally occurring tumor proved to be determinant for induction of hepatocarcinogenesis, although enforced, liver-specific expression of c-myc was limited to a particular developmental stage.
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PMID:Liver-specific expression and high oncogenic efficiency of a c-myc transgene activated by woodchuck hepatitis virus insertion. 810 15

Chronic hepadnavirus infection is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in natural hosts such as humans, woodchucks, and Beechey ground squirrels. Several possible oncogenic mechanisms have been identified, including a potential role of the hepadnavirus x (hbx) gene, which transactivates transcription regulated by certain cis-acting sequences, e.g. regulatory sequences of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and heterologous regulatory sequences of other viruses and cellular genes. The oncogenic potential of hbx is suggested by the observation of HCCs in hbx transgenic mice, the oncogenic transformation of cells expressing hbx in culture, and the transactivation of oncogenes c-myc and c-jun by hbx. Cis-activation of cellular oncogenes N-myc and c-myc by viral promoter insertion has been a common finding in woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV)-associated HCCs of woodchucks. No such cis-activation of any cellular gene has been shown in virus-associated HCCs of ground squirrels or humans. Amplification and overexpression of the c-myc gene has been a common finding in HCCs of ground squirrels, and is rare in woodchuck or human HCCs. Point mutations in the p53 gene and allelic deletion of p53 have been common findings in human HCCs, but have not been found in HCCs in woodchucks and have been found rarely in ground squirrels. How each of these genetic changes in the different hosts contributes to HCC remains to be determined, but apparently different changes in different HCCs of hepadnavirus-infected hosts suggest that several separate genetic events may contribute to the development of HCC. These events may differ in each host, and some may not result from a direct virus-specific mechanism. Chronic hepadnavirus infection is often associated with chronic necroinflammatory liver disease and cirrhosis, a pathologic process common to several other risk factors for HCC. This suggests that this pathologic process (necroinflammatory disease) may be hepatocarcinogenic regardless of the inciting agent. Thus hepadnavirus infection may play an important role in the development of HCC by causing chronic hepatitis and HCC with the same mechanisms by which other risk factors for HCC cause chronic necroinflammatory liver disease and HCC.
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PMID:Molecular events in the pathogenesis of hepadnavirus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma. 819 85

Integrated hepatitis B virus DNA cloned from hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma frequently contains 3'-truncated middle surface genes (preS2/St), which were recently found to have a transcriptional transactivator function. Because preS2/St, among others, is able to transactivate the promoters of the cellular oncogenes c-myc and c-fos, it has been speculated that integrated preS2/St genes might contribute to hepatitis B virus-associated liver carcinogenesis. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of target gene stimulation by preS2/St. It was found that deletion of a fragment containing the binding site for transcription factor AP-1 (Jun-Fos) substantially decreases inducibility of the human c-myc promoter by preS2/St. A subsequent investigation of AP-1 activation by preS2/St revealed the following: (a) insertion of multimeric AP-1 binding sites confers inducibility to an otherwise unstimulatable test promoter; (b) transactivation of AP-1 sites is dramatically increased when Jun and Fos are overexpressed by cotransfected expression plasmids; and (c) inhibitors of AP-1 activation also impair transactivation by preS2/St. Besides AP-1, preS2/St was also able to utilize the unrelated transcription factors NF-kappa B and AP-2 for transactivation, suggesting that the gene product of preS2/St acts indirectly through one or several general cellular pathways rather than as a bona fide transcription factor. Because AP-1 conveys induction of a large panel of tumor-relevant genes, its preS2/St-dependent activation implies a possible causative role in hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocarcinogenesis.
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PMID:The hepatitis B virus preS2/St transactivator utilizes AP-1 and other transcription factors for transactivation. 827 60

Woodchucks infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) and ground squirrels infected with ground squirrel hepatitis virus (GSHV) both develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but WHV-associated tumors arise more frequently and much earlier in life. These differences are preserved when the oncogenic potentials of the two viruses are examined in the same host (woodchucks). We examined RNA and genomic DNA from tumors arising from WHV- and GSHV-infected woodchucks to determine whether these viruses use the same oncogenic pathway. N-myc RNA was not expressed in normal liver but was expressed in 10 of 13 WHV-associated HCCs examined. Southern blot analysis showed that 7 of 17 WHV-induced tumors (41%) contained rearrangements at N-myc loci due to viral genomic integration. Six of these seven inserts affected N-myc2, and most of these were at the 5' end of the gene. In contrast, only two of seven GSHV-induced woodchuck HCCs expressed N-myc RNA, and only 1 of the 16 tumors (6%) contained a rearranged N-myc allele. The GSHV-associated HCCs all contained numerous viral insertions, so the low frequency of integration into N-myc loci by GSHV was not due to a general block to integration. Four of sixteen GSHV-induced tumors harbored amplified c-myc alleles, and five of seven GSHV tumors tested contained elevated c-myc RNA levels. By contrast, enhanced c-myc RNA levels were observed in only 2 of 13 WHV-induced HCC. We conclude that N-myc overexpression is a regular feature of WHV- but not GSHV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis in a common host. In contrast, c-myc transcriptional deregulation is rarely encountered in WHV-induced HCC but is frequent in GSHV-induced HCC.
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PMID:Differential activation of myc gene family members in hepatic carcinogenesis by closely related hepatitis B viruses. 838 Feb 30

From an hepatocarcinoma cell line (LFCL.2A), unable to grow in a culture medium in which methionine was replaced by L-homocysteine, we had previously isolated revertant clones presenting a low growth rate, a loss of tumorigenicity and an inhibition of transcription of three oncogenes: c-Ki-ras, c-Ha-ras and c-myc. Here we showed that long-term deprivation of methionine led to a depletion of spermine, while putrescine and spermidine contents remained unchanged. When the revertant cells were shifted in a medium containing methionine, the oncogene transcription (except the p53 gene) started very rapidly in parallel with an increase in the putrescine content. By contrast, spermidine and spermine contents decreased during the first hours but were not significantly different from control values after numerous subcultures in methionine-containing medium.
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PMID:Polyamine content and oncogene expression in hepatoma cells in culture during methionine deprivation and refeeding. 839 Aug 3

Rat CYP1A1 promoter activity was suppressed by the presence of a cis negative regulatory element (NRE) at position -843 to -746 in transiently transfected rat H4IIE and human HepG2 hepatoma cells. Removal of the NRE from the promoter-fusion gene constructs caused an increase in the basal promoter activity of 2-6-fold. Co-transfection of the NRE-containing or non-NRE-containing CYP1A1 promoter-fusion gene constructs with a cloned rat NRE, i.e., pNRE, into HepG2 cells caused a 2-fold or greater reduction in constitutive and induced promoter activities. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin-induced expression of the endogenous human CYPA1 was also inhibited by transfection of pNRE into HepG2 cells. Deletion of the sequence from base pairs (bp) -658 to -269 in the NRE-containing construct caused a dramatic decrease of constitutive expression in transiently transfected HepG2 cells, compared with an identical construct that lacked the NRE. Deletion of the sequences between bp -658 and -158 in the CYP1A1 promoter did not affect reporter gene activity, indicating a second site of interaction. At least three different rat liver nuclear proteins bound to the rat NRE, as determined by gel mobility shift and DNase I footprinting assays. A 32-bp sequence within the rat NRE, with significant sequence identity to the 26-bp c-myc, fos/jun-octamer-binding, NRE, was protected from DNAse I cleavage by rat liver nuclear extracts. These data suggested a role for this region in the negative regulation of rat CYP1A1.
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PMID:Rat CYP1A1 negative regulatory element: biological activity and interaction with a protein from liver and hepatoma cells. 839 16

One of the major antecedent factors preceding the development of hepatocellular carcinoma is chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Also, recent molecular studies have shown that activation of c-oncogenes might be responsible for the malignant transformation in some cases of hepatocellular carcinoma. We used immunohistochemical methods to investigate the correlation of ras and c-myc oncogene expression with the presence of HBsAg in human liver disease. Our material consisted of 23 chronic active hepatitis B needle liver biopsies and surgical specimens from 11 cases of cirrhosis, 23 hepatocellular carcinoma and 10 normal adult livers. Direct, three-step and streptavidin-biotin-complex immunoperoxidase techniques using polyclonal (anti-HBsAg) and monoclonal antibodies (anti-ras p21, anti-myc p62), were performed. Normal liver tissues were negative for all antibodies used. In HBsAg+ chronic active hepatitis B cases enhancement of c-myc, and less frequently of ras oncogene expression, was a common observation. Increased myc p62 and ras p21 expression was a finding not restricted to HBsAg+hepatocytes, which occasionally were negative for oncoprotein immunostaining. All HBsAg-chronic active hepatitis B cases were negative for ras p21 and myc p62 specific staining. Cirrhotic livers showed more frequently enhanced c-myc expression. Most of the immunostained cells were negative for HBsAg. HBsAg- cases of hepatocellular carcinoma more often showed ras p21 than myc p62 overexpression. HBsAg+ hepatocellular carcinomas presented only ras p21-positive immunostaining, which was not detected in HBsAg+ hepatocytes. Our recent data supports the view that continued expression of HBsAg in human liver disease is not necessary for the enhancement of ras and c-myc oncogene expression.
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PMID:Expression of ras and c-myc oncoproteins and hepatitis B surface antigen in human liver disease. 846 26


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