The differences in gene expression profile induced by genotype 1b hepatitis C virus core isolated from liver tumor and adjacent non-tumoral tissue

Background: Core protein of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) has an important role in HCV self-replication, pathogenesis and carcinogenesis.
Objectives: To identify the effect of core proteins from different quasispecies of HCV genotype 1b expressed in a HepG2 cell line on human gene expression profiles.
Materials and Methods: Core protein eukrocytic expression plasmids (pEGFP-N1) containing different quasispecie core protein genes of genotypes 1b HCV derived from of HCV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumoral tissue (T) and non-tumoral tissue (NT) were constructed and then transfected to HepG2 cell line. The gene expression spectrum in the cell expression core proteins from T and NT were compared with those in the control by Affymetrix human genome HG-U 133 plus 2.0 microarray.
Results: Different gene expression profiles were acquired between HepG2 expressing core proteins derived from T and NT tissues. Both core proteins caused the modulation of several genes that are up/down-regulated as compared to control, including genes involved in oncogenesis, signal transduction, cell apoptosis, and cell growth cycle regulation. Surprisingly, only one gene-CSNK1A1-was up-regulated by both T and NT core variants.
Conclusions: Core proteins isolated from tumoral or non-tumoral nodules mediate expression of different cellular genes suggesting that variants isolated from different quasispecies may have different biological effects.
Keywords: Hepatitis C virus; Viral core proteins; Genotypes; Microarray analysis; Gene expression

• Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education:
  The study of the role of core protein of HCV is recommended for all basic scientists especially those involved in treatment of HCC.
• Please cite this paper as:
  Yan XB, Chen Z, Brechot C. The differences in gene expression profile induced by genotype 1b hepatitis C virus core isolated from liver tumor and adjacent non-tumoral tissue. Hepat Mon. 2011;11(4):255-262.

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