Yonsei Med J.  2017 Sep;58(5):925-933. 10.3349/ymj.2017.58.5.925.

Gene Expression Profiling of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Derived Cancer Stem Like Cell under Hypoxia

• Choi SH
• Lee SW
• Ok M
• Kim KS
• Kim S
• Ahn SH

• KMID: 2418927
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2017.58.5.925

Abstract

PURPOSE
Cancer stem like cells (CSCs), with unlimited self-renewal potential and other stem cell characteristics, occur in several cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although CSCs can initiate tumors, malignant proliferation, relapse and multi-drug resistance, the ways how to activate them still remain unknown. This study aims to evaluate whether CSC acquire tumorigenic characters under tumor hypoxia, analyzed by microarray analysis.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
CSCs were purified from HCC patients and Affymetrix microarray was used to investigate their gene expression profiles. The results were validated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
RESULTS
The results of the microarray indicated that 18 genes were up-regulated and 10 genes were down-regulated in CSCs. Several genes were identified to be significantly involved in the regulation of CSCs such as HCC. Furthermore, the up-regulated genes were related with metabolism, angiogenesis and hypoxia, whereas the down-regulated genes were related with apoptosis and inflammation.
CONCLUSION
The results may help to understand the mechanisms of tumor development through CSCs which acquired their distinctive tumorogenic properties by hypoxic stimulation.

Keyword

Hypoxia; microarray; hepatocellular carcinoma; cancer stem cell

MeSH Terms

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*genetics/pathology
Cell Line, Tumor
*Gene Expression Profiling
*Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
Humans
Hypoxia/*complications/genetics
Liver Neoplasms/*genetics/*pathology
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/pathology
Neoplastic Stem Cells/metabolism/*pathology
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Reproducibility of Results

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