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)

Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies and has the fourth highest mortality rate worldwide. The major risk factors, including chronic infections with the hepatitis B or C virus, are exposure to dietary aflatoxin B1(AFB1), vinyl chloride, or alcohol consumption. Southern China and sub-Saharan Africa have the highest dietary AFB1 exposure, making it and hepatitis B virus (HBV) the major causes of cancer mortality in these geographic areas. Recent studies have discovered genetic and epigenetic changes involved in the molecular pathogenesis of HCC, including somatic mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene (TP53). AFB1 induces typical G:C to T:A transversions at the third base in codon 249 of p53. Chronic active hepatitis B and C (HCV) infection, and further inflammatory and oxyradical disorders including Wilson disease (WD) or hemochromatosis, generate reactive oxygen/nitrogen species that can damage DNA and mutate the p53 gene. The X gene of HBV (HBx) is the most common open reading frame integrated into the host genome in HCC. The integrated HBx is frequently mutated and has a diminished ability to function as a transcriptional cotransactivator and to activate the NF-kappa B pathway. However, the mutant HBx proteins still retain their ability to bind to and abrogate p53-mediated apoptosis. In summary, both viruses and chemicals are implicated in the etiology and molecular pathogenesis of HCC. The resultant molecular changes in the ras and Wnt signal-transduction pathways, and the p53 and Rb tumor suppressor pathways significantly contribute to liver carcinogenesis
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PMID:TP53 and liver carcinogenesis. 1261 6

Furan serves as an intermediate in the synthesis and preparation of numerous linear polymers used to prepare temperature-resistant structural laminates and to prepare copolymers used in machine dishwashing products as alternatives to phosphorus- and nitrogen-containing detergents. Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies were conducted by administering furan (purity > 99%) in corn oil by gavage to groups of F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice of each sex for 16 days, 13 weeks, and 2 years. Genetic toxicology studies were conducted in Salmonella typhimurium, Drosophila melanogaster, mouse bone marrow cells, mouse L5178Y lymphoma cells, and Chinese hamster ovary cells. 16-Day Studies: Groups of five male rats received doses of 0, 5, 10, 20, 40, or 80 mg of furan per kg of body weight and groups of five female rats and five mice of each sex received doses of 0, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 mg/kg in corn oil by gavage. All male and female mice and female rats that received 160 mg/kg, all male and female rats and all male and four female mice that received 80 mg/kg, and three male mice that received 40 mg/kg died by day 8. Final mean body weights of male rats that received 20 mg/kg and of male and female rats that received 40 mg/kg were significantly lower than controls. Final mean body weights of male mice that received 10 or 20 mg/kg were significantly greater than controls. Mottled and enlarged livers were observed at necropsy in male rats that received 20, 40, or 80 mg/kg and in females that received 40, 80, or 160 mg/kg. No lesions were observed at necropsy that were considered related to furan administration in mice. 13-Week Studies: Groups of 10 rats of each sex and groups of 10 female mice received doses of 0, 4, 8, 15, 30, or 60 mg of furan per kg of body weight, and groups of 10 male mice received doses of 0, 2, 4, 8, 15, or 30 mg/kg in corn oil by gavage. Nine male and four female rats that received 60 mg/kg died before the end of the studies. There were no chemical-related deaths in mice. Final mean body weights of male rats that received 15 or 30 mg/kg and female rats that received 60 mg/kg were significantly lower than controls. Final mean body weights of male mice that received 60 mg/kg were significantly lower than controls. Relative and absolute liver weights in both sexes of rats and mice were increased in groups that received furan, as were relative and absolute kidney weights in female rats that received furan. Thymus weights were decreased in all groups of rats that received furan. Toxic lesions of the liver (bile duct hyperplasia, cholangiofibrosis, cytomegaly and degeneration of hepatocytes, and nodular hyperplasia of hepatocytes) were associated with furan administration in all dose groups of rats; the severity of the lesions increased with dose. Kidney lesions (tubule dilatation and necrosis of tubule epithelium) were present in rats that received 30 or 60 mg/kg. Thymic atrophy and testicular or ovarian atrophy were also observed in rats exposed to 60 mg/kg furan. Toxic liver lesions (cytomegaly, degeneration, and necrosis of hepatocytes) were also present in all groups of furan-exposed mice. Bile duct hyperplasia and cholangiofibrosis were observed in groups of mice receiving 30 or 60 mg/kg. Doses selected for the 2-year studies of rats and mice were based on the hepatotoxicity associated with exposure to furan. 2-Year Studies: Groups of 70 rats of each sex were administered 2, 4, or 8 mg furan per kg body weight in corn oil by gavage 5 days per week for 2 years. After 9 and 15 months of chemical exposure, 10 rats per group were evaluated for the presence of treatment-associated lesions. Groups of 50 mice of each sex received doses of 8 or 15 mg/kg furan 5 days per week for 2 years. Body Weight and Survival: Mean body weights of male rats that received 8 mg/kg furan were lower than controls from approximately week 73 to the end of the study. Survival of male and female rats that received 8 mg/kg was lower than controls from approximately week 85 to the end of the studies as a result of moribund condition associatedassociated with liver and biliary tract neoplasms and mononuclear cell leukemia. Mean body weights of male and female mice that received 15 mg/kg furan were lower than controls during the studies. Survival of low- and high-dose male and high-dose female mice was lower than controls from approximately week 80 to the end of the studies as a result of moribund condition associated with liver neoplasms. Neoplastic and Nonneoplastic Lesions: Cholangiocarcinoma of the liver occurred in all groups of dosed rats (males: control, 0/50; low dose, 43/50; mid dose, 48/50; high dose, 49/50; females: 0/50; 49/50; 50/50; 48/50) and was present in many rats of each sex at the 9- and 15-month interim evaluations (9-month: males - 0/10, 5/10, 7/10, 10/10; females - 0/10, 4/10, 9/10, 10/10; 15-month: males - 0/10, 7/10, 9/10, 6/10; females - 0/10, 9/10, 9/10, 7/10). Hepatocellular adenomas or carcinomas (combined) were significantly increased in male rats after 2 years of chemical administration (1/50, 5/50, 22/50, 35/50) and hepatocellular adenomas were significantly increased in female rats (0/50, 2/50, 4/50, 7/50); hepatocellular neoplasms were not observed at the 9- or 15-month interim evaluations. Increased incidences of numerous nonneoplastic liver lesions were present in rats administered furan. These lesions included biliary tract fibrosis, hyperplasia, chronic inflammation, and proliferation and hepatocyte cytomegaly, cytoplasmic vacuolization, degeneration, nodular hyperplasia, and necrosis. The incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia was increased in male and female rats that received 4 or 8 mg/kg furan (males: 8/50, 11/50, 17/50, 25/50; females: 8/50, 9/50, 17/50, 21/50); the incidence in the 8 mg/kg groups of each sex exceeded the historical control ranges for corn oil gavage studies. The severity of nephropathy increased with dose and the incidence was significantly increased in all groups of dosed rats; this increased severity was accompanied by an associated increased incidence of parathyroid hyperplasia (renal secondary hyperparathyroidism). The incidence of forestomach hyperplasia was increased in male and female rats (males: 1/50, 4/49, 7/50, 6/50; females: 0/50, 2/50, 5/50, 5/50) and the incidence of subacute inflammation of the forestomach was increased in female rats (0/50, 1/50, 5/50, 6/50). No forestomach neoplasms were observed in males; a squamous papilloma was present in one low-dose female. The incidences of hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas were significantly increased in mice receiving furan (males: adenoma - 20/50, 33/50, 42/50; carcinoma - 7/50, 32/50, 34/50; females: adenoma - 5/50, 31/50, 48/50; carcinoma - 2/50, 7/50, 27/50). The incidences of numerous nonneoplastic hepatocellular lesions were increased in dosed mice. These lesions included hepatocyte cytomegaly, degeneration, necrosis, multifocal hyperplasia, and cytoplasmic vacuolization and biliary tract dilatation, fibrosis, hyperplasia, and inflammation. The incidences of benign pheochromocytoma and focal hyperplasia of the adrenal medulla were increased in low- and high-dose male and in high-dose female mice (benign pheochromocytoma: males - 1/49, 6/50, 10/50; females - 2/50, 1/50, 6/50). The incidences of squamous papilloma, focal inflammation, and papillary hyperplasia of the forestomach were increased in male mice (squamous papilloma: 0/49, 1/50, 3/50; focal inflammation: 9/49, 13/50, 21/50; papillary hyperplasia: 7/49, 14/50, 22/50). Stop-Exposure Study: A separate 2-year study was conducted in which 50 male rats were administered 30 mg/kg furan in corn oil by gavage 5 days per week for 13 weeks and then maintained for the remainder of the 2 years without additional furan administration. Groups of 10 animals were evaluated for the presence of treatment-related lesions at the end of the 13-week period of furan administration and at 9 and 15 months. Neoplastic and Nonneoplastic Lesions: Cholangiocarcinoma of the liver occurred with an overall incidence of 100% (40/40) and hepatocellular carcinoma occurred with an overall incidence of 15% (6/40) in stop-exposure male rats that survived at least 9 months. Cholangiocarcinoma was observed in all 10 males at both the 9-month and 15-month interim evaluations. Hepatocellular carcinoma was first observed in 2 males at the 15-month interim evaluation. Genetic Toxicology: Furan was negative for induction of gene mutations in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA100, TA1535, TA1537, and TA98 in the presence and the absence of exogenous metabolic activation (S9). Furan was negative for the induction of sex-linked recessive lethal mutations in germ cells of male Drosophila melanogaster when administered either by feeding or by injection. In vitro tests for genotoxicity in mammalian cells, however, were positive. Furan induced trifluorothymidine resistance in mouse L5178Y lymphoma cells in the absence of S9, and sister chromatid exchanges and chromosomal aberrations in Chinese hamster ovary cells, with and without S9. Furan administered to male B6C3F1 mice by intraperitoneal injection induced chromosomal aberrations but not sister chromatid exchanges in bone marrow cells. Conclusions: Under the conditions of these 2-year gavage studies there was clear evidence of carcinogenic activity of furan in male and female F344/N rats based on increased incidences of cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular neoplasms of the liver and on increased incidences of mononuclear cell leukemia. There was clear evidence of carcinogenic activity of furan in male and female B6C3F1 mice based on increased incidences of hepatocellular neoplasms of the liver and benign pheochromocytomas of the adrenal gland. Nonneoplastic liver lesions associated with furan administration in rats and mice included biliary tract fibrosis, hyperplasia, inflammation, and proliferation, as well as hepatocellular cytomegaly, degeneration, hyperplasia, necrosis, and vacuolization. In rats, increased severity of nephropathy with an associated increased incidence of parathyroid hyperplasia was associated with exposure to furan. Synonyms: Divinylene oxide, tetrole, furfuran, oxole, 1,4-epoxy-1,3-butadiene, axole, oxacyclopentadiene
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PMID:Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of Furan (CAS No. 110-00-9) in F344 Rats and B6C3F1 Mice(Gavage Studies). 1262 16

The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients without cirrhosis who underwent hepatectomy. Between 1986 and 1998 a total of 197 men and 57 women with noncirrhotic HCC underwent hepatic resection in the Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. We determined their surgical mortality and the disease-free and overall cumulative survival rates. The surgical mortality was 4.7% and the 5-year disease-free survival rate 24.01%. By Cox regression analysis, serum alkaline phosphatase [relative risk (RR) 1.761; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.037-2.985)], albumin (RR 2.179; CI 1.215-3.908), multiple tumor status (RR 2.288; CI 1.272-4.115), and blood urea nitrogen (RR 4.651; CI 1.116-19.38) were shown to be independent prognostic factors for the 5-year disease-free survival rates. The 5-year overall cumulative survival rate was 25.91%. By Cox regression analysis, serum albumin (RR 1.656, CI 1.005-2.730), blood transfusion (RR 2.075, CI 1.153-3.731), resection margin (RR 2.562, CI 1.436-4.572), and multiple tumors (RR 2.801, CI 1.727-4.545) were shown to be significant independent factors that influenced cumulative survival rates. Hence in patients with a noncirrhotic HCC who underwent hepatectomy the prognosis depended on preoperative hepatic function, the presence of multiple tumors, the need for blood transfusion, and the surgical resection margin.
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PMID:Prognostic factors after resection for hepatocellular carcinoma in noncirrhotic livers: univariate and multivariate analysis. 1265 90

Polyethylenimine (PEI) and other polycations are good vehicles for transferring genes into the cells. In earlier reports, poly-L-lysine and protamine have been shown to improve gene delivery with cationic liposomes. In this study, PEI, combined with different cationic liposomes, was studied to determine the optimal conditions for gene delivery. The reporter genes, luciferase and green fluorescent protein, were used to transfect human HeLa, HepG2 and hepatoma 2.2.15 cells with various combinations of PEIs (0.8 and 25 kDa), poly-L-lysine (15-30 kDa), protamine and cationic liposomes. The highest expression level was achieved by using the combination of PEI 25 kDa (0.65 microg/microg of DNA, nitrogen-to-DNA phosphate (N/P) ratio=4.5) with 10 nmol of DOTAP-cholesterol (DOTAP-Chol, 1:1 w/w). This DNA complex formulation dramatically increased the luciferase expression 10- to 100-fold, which was much higher than those of other polycations alone, cationic liposomes alone or the combination. In addition, PEI/DOTAP-Chol combination had little cytotoxicity than DOTAP-Chol or other cationic liposomes alone. The effect of oligonucleotide (ODN) delivery facilitated by PEI and cationic liposomes was also studied in the hepatoma cell lines. We demonstrated an antisense ODN of p53 delivered by PEI/DOTAP-Chol combination effectively inhibited the biosynthesis of p53 protein in HepG2 (68% inhibiton) and 2.2.15 cells (43% inhibition). Thus, the large PEI could synergistically increase the transfection efficiency when combined with the cationic liposomes.
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PMID:Synergistic effect of polyethylenimine and cationic liposomes in nucleic acid delivery to human cancer cells. 1265 45

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and dietary exposure to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), two of the major risk factors in the multifactorial aetiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), co-exist in those countries with the highest incidences of and the youngest patients with this tumour, raising the possibility of a synergistic carcinogenic interaction between the two agents. Experimental studies in HBV-transgenic mice and woodchucks infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus were the first to show a synergistic hepatocarcinogenic effect between hepadnaviral infection and AFB1 exposure. With the availability of urinary and serum biomarkers that more accurately reflect dietary exposure to AFB1 than did the initially used food sampling and dietary questionnaires, cohort studies of patients with HCC in China and Taiwan have provided compelling evidence for a multiplicative or sub-multiplicative interaction between HBV and AFB1 in the genesis of human HCC. A number of possible mechanisms for the interaction have been suggested. Chronic HBV infection may induce the cytochrome P450s that metabolise inactive AFB1 to the mutagenic AFB1-8,9-epoxide. Hepatocyte necrosis and regeneration and the generation of oxygen and nitrogen reactive species resulting from chronic HBV infection increase the likelihood of the AFB1-induced p53 249ser and other mutations and the subsequent clonal expansion of cells containing these mutations. Nuclear excision repair, which is normally responsible for removing AFB1-DNA adducts, is inhibited by HBV x protein, favouring the persistence of existing mutations. This protein also increases the overall frequency of DNA mutations, including the p53 249ser mutation, and may contribute to uncontrolled cell cycling when p53 is non-functional.
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PMID:Synergistic interaction between aflatoxin B1 and hepatitis B virus in hepatocarcinogenesis. 1498 13

Among genetic alterations, the activation of proto-oncogenes and inactivation of tumour suppressor genes in affected cells are considered to be the core molecular events that provide a selective growth advantage and clonal expansion during the multistep process of carcinogenesis. The TP53 tumour suppressor gene is mutated in about half of all human cancer cases. The p53 protein modulates multiple cellular functions, such as gene transcription, DNA synthesis and repair, cell cycle arrest, senescence and apoptosis. Mutations in the TP53 gene can abrogate these functions, leading to genetic instability and progression to cancer. The molecular archaeology of the TP53 mutation spectrum generates hypotheses concerning the etiology and molecular pathogenesis of each type of cancer. The spectrum of somatic mutations in the TP53 gene, of which 75% are missense mutations, implicates environmental carcinogens and endogenous processes in the etiology of human cancer. The presence of a characteristic TP53 mutation can also manifest a molecular link between exposure to a particular carcinogen and a specific type of human cancer, e.g. exposure to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and codon 249 mutations in hepatocellular carcinoma; exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light and C:C-->T:T tandem mutations in skin cancer; and cigarette smoking and the prevalence of G-->T transversions in lung cancer. Although exogenous carcinogens have been shown to target p53 selectively, evidence supporting the endogenous insult of TP53 from oxyradicals and nitrogen-oxyradicals is also accumulating. TP53 mutations can be a biomarker of carcinogen effect. Determining the characteristic TP53 mutation load in non-tumorous tissue, using a highly sensitive mutation assay, can indicate exposure to a specific carcinogen and may also help in identifying individuals at an increased risk of cancer.
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PMID:TP53 mutation spectra and load: a tool for generating hypotheses on the etiology of cancer. 1505

The complexation processes of vanadium(III) with L-cysteinate and s-methyl-L-cysteinate ligands have been studied in aqueous solutions in the pH range 2-7 by the pH-potentiometric, UV-Vis absorption and CD spectroscopy methods. The equilibria model of complex formation, evaluated by SUPERQUAD program, so as careful inspection of spectroscopic data have allowed to determine the speciation and the coordination mode of vanadium(III) ion in the major species present in aqueous solutions. Relatively stable ML2 species of vanadium(III)-L-cysteinate system exists in aqueous solutions above pH 5. It was deduced from spectral data that the coordination sphere of vanadium(III) ion in V(Cys)2 is completed by oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur atoms of two L-cysteinate ligands. Solution of vanadium(III) with L-cysteine (pH approximately 7, L/M=20) was administrated to the culture medium of hepatoma Morris 5123 growing cells. Cytotoxic effect of this solution towards tumor cells was observed. The viability of these cells depended on the complex concentration. It was reduced by 70% at 100 microM of the vanadium species concentration in the culture medium. The death of cancer cells seems to be induced on apoptotic route. The statistically significant increase of total actin level and filamentous to monomeric actin ratios (F/G) were found in the cytoplasm of cells exposed to the vanadium(III)-L-cysteine complex. It was accompanied by the rearrangement of actin cytoskeleton architecture. These factors are important for migration and metastasis formation of the cancer cells.
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PMID:Vanadium(III) complexes with L-cysteine--stability, speciation and the effect on actin in hepatoma Morris 5123 cells. 1554 98

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) have been proposed as mechanisms of cancer-induced cachexia. In this study, we assessed using Western blot analysis the levels of total protein carbonylation (2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine assay), both malondialdehyde- (MDA-) and 2-hydroxy-4-nonenal- (HNE-) protein adducts, Mn-superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD), catalase, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and 3-nitrotyrosine formation in gastrocnemius muscles of rats bearing the Yoshida AH-130 hepatoma. In the muscles of the tumour-bearing animals, protein carbonylation as measured by total levels of carbonyl group formation and both HNE and MDA-protein adducts, and protein tyrosine nitration were significantly greater than in control muscles. Protein levels of the antioxidant enzymes Mn-SOD, catalase, and HO-1 were not significantly modified in the rat cachectic muscles compared to controls. The inefficiency of the antioxidant enzymes in neutralizing excessive ROS production may account for elevated markers of protein oxidation and be responsible for the development of both oxidative and nitrosative stress in cancer-induced cachexia.
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PMID:Both oxidative and nitrosative stress are associated with muscle wasting in tumour-bearing rats. 1575 55

Because of their peculiar role in whole-body nitrogen metabolism and the competitive action on amino acid transport across the blood-brain barrier, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been extensively used in subjects with liver disease to preserve or to restore muscle mass and to improve hepatic encephalopathy. There are no data regarding safe limits of BCAA administration; the results appear to be better when BCAA-enriched formulas or BCAA-supplemented diets are preferred to pure BCAA formulas. Improved nitrogen retention might ameliorate the nutritional status, a prognostic index of long-term survival in cirrhosis and of short-term survival in patients undergoing surgical procedures. The effects on nutrition and ultimately on prognosis of patients with advanced cirrhosis were confirmed in a large multicenter, long-term trial where oral BCAA supplements were compared with equicaloric or equinitrogenous-equicaloric supplements (maltodextrin or lactoalbumin). Similarly, BCAA treatment improved the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, treated by surgical resection or chemoembolization, and of liver transplant patients. The mechanism(s) for the beneficial effects of BCAAs might be mediated by their stimulating activity on hepatocyte growth factor, favoring liver regeneration. The debate regarding the potential effectiveness of BCAAs dates back to the early 1980s. The number of patients who cannot tolerate dietary proteins in amounts sufficient to meet the higher catabolism of advanced liver disease is probably low, but BCAAs remain the sole treatment of proved efficacy in this specific setting.
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PMID:Branched-chain amino acid supplementation in patients with liver diseases. 1593 Apr 76

Chronic or acute inflammation may participate in the etiology of cancer cachexia. To investigate the interaction between tumor and a secondary inflammatory stimulus on muscle wasting, rats with and without tumors (Yoshida ascites hepatoma) received low doses of endotoxin (LPS, 400 microg/kg sc) or saline. Nitrogen balance was measured 24 h before and after LPS/saline. Epitrochlearis muscle was used to measure in vitro protein metabolism, and gastrocnemius muscle was used for quantification of the mRNA for components of the ubiquitin proteolytic pathway. The YAH reduced muscle mass (P = 0.002), increased muscle protein degradation (P = 0.042), and elevated mRNA expression of components of the ubiquitin proteolytic pathway (P < 0.01) including ubiquitin, ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2(14k), and ubiquitin ligases muscle RING Finger 1 and atrogin-1. Although the selected low dose of LPS had no impact on protein metabolism in control rats, LPS in rats bearing YAH caused weight loss (P = 0.0007), lowered nitrogen balance (P = <0.0001), and increased muscle protein degradation (P = 0.0336). In conclusion, the presence of a tumor can potentiate whole body and muscle-specific catabolic losses of protein in response to a stimulus that is not catabolic in healthy animals. This effect might be dependent on the inflammatory nature of the tumor.
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PMID:A proinflammatory tumor that activates protein degradation sensitizes rats to catabolic effects of endotoxin. 1594 85


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