Hepatocellular Carcinoma Essay

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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer accounting for 7.5% and 3.5% of all cancers among men and women respectively. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer and the third most common cause of cancer mortality. Its incidence is increasing worldwide ranging between 3% and 9% annually. HCC has been increasing in Egypt with a doubling in the incidence rate in the past 10 years. Recently Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has become the predominant factor associated with the more recent epidemic of HCC. HCV infects about 170 million people worldwide and plays an important role in HCC development where serological markers of HCV infection (positive anti-HCV) are found in 71% of HCC cases from Egypt. Increasing age and male gender increase liver cancer risk, and modifiable factors, such as smoking and heavy alcohol consumption, also play a substantial role in incidence of liver cancer. A recent report indicates that male liver cells are more prone to entering a proliferative state. For instance, hepatic epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is over expressed in a significant proportion of hepatocellular carcinomas, is expressed at higher levels in male liver than female liver. EGFR expression is enhanced by Androgen (AR) activation and Estrogen (ER) activation reduces inflammation in females and AR activity sustains infections and steatosis in males. A recent study discovered that sexually dimorphic HCC is completely reversed in Foxa1- and Foxa2-deficient mice after diethyl nitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis. It was hypothesized that the effects of estrogens and androgens on HCC development are dependent upon Foxa factors. This study aims to find the correlation between...

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...ll be assembled using Brilliant SYBR green QPCR master mix (Stratagene), a 0.125 M concentration of each specific primer, and the included reference dye at a 1:400 dilution. Reactions will be performed in triplicate using the SYBR green program on the Mx4000 PCR System (Stratagene). The enrichment of target genes will be calculated using the 28S rRNA locus as a reference for nonspecific DNA.

5. Expression Profiling; fluorescently labeled cDNAs will be hybridized to the Whole Human Genome Oligo Microarray (Agilent).

6. Immunoprecipitation; Protein G-conjugated Dynal magnetic beads (Invitrogen) were employed to purify the protein complexes bound by the hormones' receptors and the transcription factors.

7. Serum IL-6 levels were measured with an ELISA kit (R&D Systems).

8. Serum ALT activities were measured with a coupled enzymatic reaction (Genzyme Diagnostics).

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