Unveiling disulfidptosis-related genes in HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma: an integrated study incorporating transcriptome and Mendelian randomization analyses.

Disulfidptosis, a recently unveiled mechanism of demise, has been linked to an unfavorable prognosis in the context of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, few studies have focused on the causal link between disulfidptosis and HBV-related HCC (HBV-HCC). In this study, the Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis demonstrated that the risk of HCC increased with increasing genetic susceptibility to HBV, and the genetic changes of disulfidptosis were significantly associated with the increased risk of HBV-HCC. Within both the TCGA and GEO cohorts, it is possible to accurately forecast the prognosis of HBV-HCC by utilizing a risk score that is derived from a combination of GYS1, RPN1, SLC7A11, LRPPRC and CAPZB genes. GYS1, a potential therapeutic target for HBV-HCC, exhibits a remarkable positive correlation with immune infiltration and MSI when compared to other molecules. Furthermore, we demonstrated that silencing GYS1 effectively inhibits the tumor proliferation and metastasis of HBV-HCC in vitro and in vivo. Overall, this study expands the understanding of the potential roles of disulfidptosis in HBV-HCC and highlights GYS1 as a promising target for HBV-HCC.

Serum microRNA Profiles and Pathways in Hepatitis B-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A South African Study.

The incidence and mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase sharply by 2040 against a backdrop of limited diagnostic and therapeutic options. Two large South African-based case control studies have developed a serum-based miRNome for Hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC), as well as identifying their gene targets and pathways. Using a combination of RNA sequencing, differential analysis and filters including a unique molecular index count (UMI) ≥ 10 and log fold change (LFC) range > 2: <-0.5 (p < 0.05), 91 dysregulated miRNAs were characterized including 30 that were upregulated and 61 were downregulated. KEGG analysis, a literature review and other bioinformatic tools identified the targeted genes and HBV-HCC pathways of the top 10 most dysregulated miRNAs. The results, which are based on differentiating miRNA expression of cases versus controls, also develop a serum-based miRNA diagnostic panel that indicates 95.9% sensitivity, 91.0% specificity and a Youden Index of 0.869. In conclusion, the results develop a comprehensive African HBV-HCC miRNome that potentially can contribute to RNA-based diagnostic and therapeutic options.

Construction of a diagnostic model for hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma using machine learning and artificial neural networks and revealing the correlation by immunoassay.

HBV infection profoundly escalates hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) susceptibility, responsible for a majority of HCC cases. HBV-driven immune-mediated hepatocyte impairment significantly fuels HCC progression. Regrettably, inconspicuous early HCC symptoms often culminate in belated diagnoses. Nevertheless, surgically treated early-stage HCC patients relish augmented five-year survival rates. In contrast, advanced HCC exhibits feeble responses to conventional interventions like radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery, leading to diminished survival rates. This investigation endeavors to unearth diagnostic hallmark genes for HBV-HCC leveraging a bioinformatics framework, thus refining early HBV-HCC detection. Candidate genes were sieved via differential analysis and Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis (WGCNA). Employing three distinct machine learning algorithms unearthed three feature genes (HHIP, CXCL14, and CDHR2). Melding these genes yielded an innovative Artificial Neural Network (ANN) diagnostic blueprint, portending to alleviate patient encumbrance and elevate life quality. Immunoassay scrutiny unveiled accentuated immune damage in HBV-HCC patients relative to solitary HCC. Through consensus clustering, HBV-HCC was stratified into two subtypes (C1 and C2), the latter potentially indicating milder immune impairment. The diagnostic model grounded in these feature genes showcased robust and transferrable prognostic potentialities, introducing a novel outlook for early HBV-HCC diagnosis. This exhaustive immunological odyssey stands poised to expedite immunotherapeutic curatives' emergence for HBV-HCC.

Construction of HBV-HCC prognostic model and immune characteristics based on potential genes mining through protein interaction networks.

OBJECTIVE: To search for human protein-coding genes related to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the context of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and perform prognosis risk assessment. METHODS: Genes related to HBV-HCC were selected through literature screening and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network database analysis. Prognosis potential genes (PPGs) were identified using Cox regression analysis. Patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups based on PPGs, and risk scores were calculated. Kaplan-Meier plots were used to analyze overall survival rates, and the results were predicted based on clinicopathological variables. Association analysis was also conducted with immune infiltration, immune therapy, and drug sensitivity. Experimental verification of the expression of PPGs was done in patient liver cancer tissue and normal liver tissue adjacent to tumors. RESULTS: The use of a prognosis potential genes risk assessment model can reliably predict the prognosis risk of patients, demonstrating strong predictive ability. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the overall survival rate of the low-risk group was significantly higher than that of the high-risk group. There were significant differences between the two subgroups in terms of immune infiltration and IC50 association analysis. Experimental verification revealed that CYP2C19, FLNC, and HNRNPC were highly expressed in liver cancer tissue, while UBE3A was expressed at a lower level. CONCLUSION: PPGs can be used to predict the prognosis risk of HBV-HCC patients and play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of liver cancer. They also reveal their potential role in the tumor immune microenvironment, clinical-pathological characteristics, and prognosis.

PD-L1 is Fascinating but IDO Needs Attention in Non-HCV and Non-HBV-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients.

Background/Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common forms of liver cancer that is modulated by the immune system. Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) has emerged as a novel therapeutic target in various cancers. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immunosuppressive enzyme that is associated with poor prognoses in various cancer types. The aim of this study was to investigate the PD-L1 expression, and clinicopathological features of non-HCV and non-HBV-associated HCC patients, including IDO expression. Patients and Methods: In this study, immunohistochemical analysis was performed to analyze the expression of PD-L1 and IDO. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded HCC tumor tissues (n=50) were obtained from the pathology department, at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Lahore, Pakistan between 2005 and 2022. All the patients were HBV and HCV negative. Furthermore, it was a rare group of patients with no previous history of any viral hepatitis. In addition, for categorical and continuous variables chi-square or Fisher exact test and Mann-Whitney U-test was performed. Results: Of 50 tissue specimens, PD-L1+ was observed in 21 [high: 12 (24%), low: 9 (18%)] and PD-L1- was observed in 29 HCC patients. IDO+ was observed in all 50 specimens [high: 42 (84%), low: 8 (16%)]. Additionally, both PD-L1 and IDO had high expression in 11 (22%) patients. While both PD-L1 and IDO had low expression in 2 (4%) patients. Furthermore, in IDO+/PD-L1- group, 20 (69%) out of 29 patients died while in the IDO+/PD-L1+ group, 9 (43%) out of 21 patients died. Conclusion: Evaluation of IDO and PD-L1 expression may add therapeutic advantage in non-HCV and non-HBV-associated HCC patients that overexpress IDO. Further validation in a larger cohort is warranted.

Lenvatinib plus sintilimab versus lenvatinib monotherapy as first-line treatment for advanced HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma: A retrospective, real-world study.

Background: The most common type of primary liver cancer is hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC accounts for many HCC cases and has a high mortality rate. The goal of our study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of lenvatinib plus sintilimab therapy in real-world practice and identify factors affecting long-term prognosis. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted with 139 consecutive patients with unresectable HCC treated with lenvatinib or lenvatinib plus sintilimab at the Fifth Medical Center of PLA General Hospital from June 2018 to June 2021. The 139 patients were divided into the control group (85 patients) and the combined treatment group (54 patients) according to the antitumour drugs used for treatment. Efficacy was determined using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 and the HCC-specific modified RECIST (mRECIST) for 139 patients who completed the 1st and second tumour assessments. Safety was evaluated in 60 patients in the combined treatment group and 90 patients in the control group using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. Results: A total of 139 male Chinese patients (49.6% ≥ 55 years old) were included in the efficacy analysis. The median overall survival in the combined treatment group was 21.7 months, and the median progression-free survival was 11.3 months. According to the mRECIST criteria, the objective response rate was 38.9%, and the disease control rate was 92.6%. The median overall survival (mOS), median progression-free survival (mPFS), overall response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) in the lenvatinib monotherapy group were 12.8 months, 6.6 months, 24.7%, and 74.1%, respectively. Hypertension was the most common adverse event in both groups. Some immune-related adverse events, such as hypothyroidism (n = 5), elevated blood creatinine (n = 3), elevated cardiac enzymes (n = 1), elevated amylase (n = 1) and increased fasting glucose (n = 1), occurred only in the combined therapy group. Five patients in the lenvatinib monotherapy group and six patients in the lenvatinib plus sintilimab group discontinued therapy due to severe adverse events (AEs) (grade 3). No ≥ 4-grade AEs occurred in any patients. Conclusion: The TKI lenvatinib combined with PD-1-targeted immunotherapy sintilimab is efficacious and safe in real-world practice and may lead to better long-term outcomes than lenvatinib alone.

Operable hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma: gut microbiota profile of patients at different ages.

Background: Age was important prognostic factors for operable hepatocellular carcinoma patients. The aim of the present study was to assess the difference in gut microbiota in patients with operable hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) at different ages ; to investigate the features of the microbiota and its function associated with different ages; to provide a preliminary look at effects of the gut microbiota dimension on prognostic. Methods: From September 2020 to May 2021, patients with HBV-HCC were able to undergo liver resection and were recruited consecutively and divided into the younger age group (age <45 years) (Y.AG) (n=20), middle age group (age from 45 to 65 years) (M.AG) (n=13) 45-65 years, and older age group (age >65 years) (O.AG) (n=20). The relationships between gut microbiota and different ages were explored using 16S rRNA gene sequencing data. PICRUST2 was used to examine the metagenomic data in PHLF patients. Fisher's exact and Mann-Whitney U-test were used for the data analysis. Results: Pairwise comparison between the three groups showed that the α-diversity of Y.AG was significantly higher than that of O.AG (ACE Index, P=0.017; chao1 Index, P=0.031; observed_species Index, P=0.011; and goods_coverage Index, P=0.041). The ß-diversity in the 3 groups differed significantly (stress =0.100), while the composition (ß-diversity) differed significantly between the Y.AG and the M.AG (stress =0.090), the M.AG and the O.AG (stress =0.095), and the Y.AG and the O.AG (stress =0.099). At the genus level, 7 bacterial genera were significantly enriched in the O.AG compared with the Y.AG, of which Streptococcus, Blautia, Erysipelotrichaceae_UCG-003, and Fusicatenibacter represented the major variances in O.AG microbiomes. Eleven genera were significantly increased in the O.AG, of which Prevotella, Allorhizobium-Neorhizobium-Pararhizobium-Rhizobium, Ruminiclostridium, and Phascolarctobacterium represented the major variances in the O.AG. The Y.AG and the O.AG were predicted by PICRUSt2 analysis, which found 72 pathways related to differential gut microbiome at the genus level. Redundancy analysis showed that 7 environmental factors were significantly correlated with intestinal microorganisms, especially in the Y.AG compared with the O.AG. Conclusions: Analysis of gut microbiota characteristics in patients of different ages could ultimately contribute to the development of novel avenues for the treatment of HCC at different ages.

Hyaluronan-mediated motility receptor antisense RNA 1 promotes hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma progression by regulating miR-627-3p/High Mobility Group AT-hook 2 axis.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy in the world, with high mortality and poor prognosis. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the key factors implicated in the occurrence of HCC. Increasing evidence suggests that miRNAs play important roles in the development and metastasis of HBV-associated HCC (HBV-HCC). Here, we performed CCK8 (Cell count kit-8), EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine) incorporation assay, wound-healing assay, transwell assay to study the changes in the cellular phenotype. Luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull-down experiment, RT-qPCR and western blotting were employed to study molecular mechanism. In addition, we also constructed a mouse HCC xenograft model to verify the functional role of HMMR-AS1/miR-627-3p/HMGA2 signal axis in vivo. Our study demonstrated that HMMR-AS1 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and cell lines, suggesting its implication in the progression of HCC. In addition, in vitro experiments showed that high HMMR-AS1 expression facilitated the migration, invasion, and proliferation of HCC cells. We further revealed that HMMR-AS1 promoted the malignant phenotype of HCC cells by regulating miR-627-3p/HMGA2 axis. Together, our data suggest that HMMR-AS1 regulates HBV-HCC progression via miR-627-3p/HMGA2 axis.

Hepatitis B Virus Integration into Transcriptionally Active Loci and HBV-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) DNA integrations into the human genome are considered major causative factors to HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma development. In the present study, we investigated whether HBV preferentially integrates parts of its genome in specific genes and evaluated the contribution of the integrations in HCC development per gene. We applied dedicated in-house developed pipelines on all of the available HBV DNA integration data and performed a statistical analysis to identify genes that could be characterized as hotspots of integrations, along with the evaluation of their association with HBV-HCC. Our results suggest that 15 genes are recurrently affected by HBV integrations and they are significantly associated with HBV-HCC. Further studies that focus on HBV integrations disrupting these genes are mandatory in order to understand the role of HBV integrations in clonal advantage gain and oncogenesis promotion, as well as to determine whether inhibition of the HBV-disrupted genes can provide a therapy strategy for HBV-HCC.

Splice-Switching Antisense Oligonucleotides as a Targeted Intrinsic Engineering Tool for Generating Armored Redirected T Cells.

Modification of specificity of T cells for the use in adoptive transfer (CAR- or TCR-redirected T cells) has revolutionized the therapy of liquid tumors and some infectious diseases. However, several obstacles are still hampering the efficacy of such potent therapy, hence concurrent modification of the function is also required to obtain successful results. Here we show the use of splice-switching antisense oligonucleotides (SSOs) as a tool to transiently modify T cell function. We demonstrate the possibility to transfect SSOs and an exogenous TCR into primary human T cells in the same electroporation reaction, without affecting viability and function of the transfected T lymphocytes. Moreover, we show that SSOs targeting T cell-specific mRNAs induce the skipping of the targeted exons, and the reduction of the protein and consequent modification of T cell function. This technical work paves the way to the use of SSOs in immune cells, not only for the knockdown of the functional isoform of the targeted proteins, but also for the protein manipulation by elimination of specific domains encoded by targeted exons.

Effect of HBV-HDV co-infection on HBV-HCC co-recurrence in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of hepatitis D virus (HDV) on hepatitis B virus-hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) co-recurrence in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for HBV alone or HBV-HDV coinfection. METHODS: Between 2002 and 2019, 254 HBV-HCC patients underwent LDLT. The patients were divided into two groups after the application of the exclusion criteria: HBV-HCC (Group B; n = 163) and HBV-HDV-HCC (Group D; n = 31). First, the B and D groups were compared in terms of demographic and clinical parameters. Second, patients with (n = 16) and without (n = 178) post-transplant HBV-HCC co-recurrences were grouped and compared in terms of the same parameters. RESULTS: Although the risk of HBV-HCC co-recurrence in group D was 4.99-fold higher than in group B, the risk of HBV recurrence alone in group D was 12.5-fold lower than in group B. The AFP (OR = 4.4), Milan criteria (beyond; OR = 18.8), and HDV (OR = 8.1) were identified as the independent risk factors affecting post-transplant HBV-HCC co-recurrence. The Milan criteria (OR = 2.1) and HBV-HCC co-recurrence (OR = 10.9) were identified as the risk factors affecting post-transplant mortality. HBV-HCC co-recurrence developed in 26.5% of patients in Group B and 100% in Group D (OR = 40; p = 0.001). HCC recurrence alone developed in 10% of patients without HBV recurrence in group B and 0% of patients without HBV recurrence in group D (OR = 5.7). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the risk of HBV recurrence alone was reduced by 12.5-fold in the presence of HDV; however, the HCC recurrence occurred in all patients with HDV when HBV recurrence developed.

The Regulatory Role of MicroRNA in Hepatitis-B Virus-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HBV-HCC) Pathogenesis.

The incidence and mortality of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) is an intractable public health problem in developing countries that is compounded by limited early detection and therapeutic options. Despite the early promise of utilizing the regulatory role of miRNA in liver cancer, this field remains largely in the work-in-progress phase. This exploratory review paper adopts a broad focus in order to collate evidence of the regulatory role of miRNA in each stage of the HBV-HCC continuum. This includes the regulatory role of miRNA in early HBV infection, chronic inflammation, fibrosis/cirrhosis, and the onset of HCC. The paper specifically investigates HBV dysregulated miRNA that influence the expression of the host/HBV genome in HBV-HCC pathogenesis and fully acknowledges that this does not cover the full spectrum of dysregulated miRNA. The sheer number of dysregulated miRNA in each phase support a hypothesis that future therapeutic interventions will need to consider incorporating multiple miRNA panels.

Relationship between the mutations in precore/core region of hepatitis B virus gene and the postoperative survival in hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华实验和临床病毒学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the relationship between the mutations in precore/core (preC/C) region of hepatitis B virus (HBV) gene and the postoperative survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.@*Methods@#A total of 81 cases in HBV associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC) patients with cancer tissue genomic DNA were extracted. The preC/C region of HBV was amplified and sequenced, and survival-associated HBV mutations were identified according to the NCBI database. The relationships between the mutations in the preC/C region and HCC survival was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazards model. Eleven mutational sites were identified as statistically significant independent predictors of HBV-HCC postoperative survival.@*Results@#The portal vein thrombosis, tumor TNM classification and size were identified as statistically significant independent predictors of survival in HBV-HCC patients. In the research, we found that seven mutational sites in preC/C region of HBV were associated with independent risk factors for postoperative survival in patients of HBV-HCC. The following five mutational sites were identified as statistically significant independent predictors of HBV-HCC survival: 1915, 2134, 2176, 2221, 2260. The mutational site of 1979 and 2245 were identified for the association with survival at a borderline significance level.@*Conclusions@#The portal vein thrombosis, tumor TNM classification, size and seven mutational sites in the PreC/C region were identified as independent predictors of postoperative survival in HCC patients.

A pilot systematic genomic comparison of recurrence risks of hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma with low- and high-degree liver fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection leads to liver fibrosis, which is a major risk factor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and an independent risk factor of recurrence after HCC tumor resection. The HBV genome can be inserted into the human genome, and chronic inflammation may trigger somatic mutations. However, how HBV integration and other genomic changes contribute to the risk of tumor recurrence with regards to the different degree of liver fibrosis is not clearly understood. METHODS: We sequenced mRNAs of 21 pairs of tumor and distant non-neoplastic liver tissues of HBV-HCC patients and performed comprehensive genomic analyses of our RNAseq data and public available HBV-HCC sequencing data. RESULTS: We developed a robust pipeline for sensitively identifying HBV integration sites based on sequencing data. Simulations showed that our method outperformed existing methods. Applying it to our data, 374 and 106 HBV host genes were identified in non-neoplastic liver and tumor tissues, respectively. When applying it to other RNA sequencing datasets, consistently more HBV integrations were identified in non-neoplastic liver than in tumor tissues. HBV host genes identified in non-neoplastic liver samples significantly overlapped with known tumor suppressor genes. More significant enrichment of tumor suppressor genes was observed among HBV host genes identified from patients with tumor recurrence, indicating the potential risk of tumor recurrence driven by HBV integration in non-neoplastic liver tissues. We also compared SNPs of each sample with SNPs in a cancer census database and inferred samples' pathogenic SNP loads. Pathogenic SNP loads in non-neoplastic liver tissues were consistently higher than those in normal liver tissues. Additionally, HBV host genes identified in non-neoplastic liver tissues significantly overlapped with pathogenic somatic mutations, suggesting that HBV integration and somatic mutations targeting the same set of genes are important to tumorigenesis. HBV integrations and pathogenic mutations showed distinct patterns between low and high liver fibrosis patients with regards to tumor recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that HBV integrations and pathogenic SNPs in non-neoplastic tissues are important for tumorigenesis and different recurrence risk models are needed for patients with low and high degrees of liver fibrosis.

Comprehensive investigation of cytokine- and immune-related gene variants in HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Host genotype may be closely related to the different outcomes of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. To identify the association of variants and HBV infection, we comprehensively investigated the cytokine- and immune-related gene mutations in patients with HBV associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC). Fifty-three HBV-HCC patients, 53 self-healing cases (SH) with HBV infection history and 53 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited, the whole exon region of 404 genes were sequenced at >900× depth. Comprehensive variants and gene levels were compared between HCC and HC, and HCC and SH. Thirty-nine variants (adjusted P<0.0001, Fisher's exact test) and 11 genes (adjusted P<0.0001, optimal unified approach for rare variant association test (SKAT-O) gene level test) were strongly associated with HBV-HCC. Thirty-four variants were from eight human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes that were previously reported to be associated with HBV-HCC. The novelties of our study are: five variants (rs579876, rs579877, rs368692979, NM_145007:c.*131_*130delTG, NM_139165:exon5:c.623-2->TT) from three genes (REAT1E, NOD-like receptor (NLR) protein 11 (NLRP11), hydroxy-carboxylic acid receptor 2 (HCAR2)) were found strongly associated with HBV-HCC. We found 39 different variants in 11 genes that were significantly related to HBV-HCC. Five of them were new findings. Our data implied that chronic hepatitis B patients who carry these variants are at a high risk of developing HCC.

Hepatitis B virus promotes cancer cell migration by downregulating miR-340-5p expression to induce STAT3 overexpression.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a leading cause of HCC. Previous studies have demonstrated that expression of the tumor inhibitor miR-340 is significantly downregulated in HCC tissues compared with normal liver tissues. However, the precise biological role of miR-340-5p in HBV-HCC and its molecular mechanism of action remain unknown. RESULTS: Expression of miR-340-5p was downregulated in HBV-associated HCC liver tissue and HBV-infected cells, facilitating migration of liver cancer cells. Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)3 was found to be a direct functional target of miR-340-5p. The regulation of STAT3 expression by miR-340-5p was assessed using qRT-PCR and western blotting, and the effects of exogenous miR-340-5p and STAT3 on the migration of HBV-infected cells were evaluated in vitro using Transwell® and wound-healing assays. The expression of E-cadherin and vimentin, associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition, was also assessed using Western blotting after transfection of miR-340-5p mimics and/or STAT3 expression vectors. Overexpression of STAT3 resulted in rescue of HBV effects, decreased E-cadherin expression, increased vimentin expression, and ultimately, enhanced cell migration. Re-introduction of the STAT3 CDS led to marked reversal of the inhibition of cell migration in HBV-infected cells mediated by miR-340-5p. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatitis B virus promotes the migration of liver cancer cells by downregulating miR-340-5p expression to induce STAT3 overexpression. Our results show that STAT3 plays a key role in regulating cell migration in HBV-HCC involving miR-340-5p.

Gene copy number variations in the leukocyte genome of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with integrated hepatitis B virus DNA.

Integration of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA into the human liver cell genome is believed to promote HBV-related carcinogenesis. This study aimed to quantify the integration of HBV DNA into the leukocyte genome in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients in order to identify potential biomarkers for HBV-related diseases. Whole-genome comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) chip array analyses were performed to screen gene copy number variations (CNV) in the leukocyte genome, and the results were confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The commonly detected regions included chromosome arms 19p, 5q, 1q and 15p, where 200 copy number gain events and 270 copy number loss events were noted. In particular, gains were observed in 5q35.3 (OR4F3) and 19p13.3 (OR4F17) in 90% of the samples. Successful homologous recombination of OR4F3 and the HBV P gene was demonstrated, and the amplification at 5q35.3 is potentially associated with the integration of HBV P gene into natural killer cells isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that the combination of OR4F3 and OR4F17 a novel potential biomarker of HBV-related diseases.