BACKGROUND Although the development of novel therapeutic regimens to combat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have been speeded up with successful results, no efficient vaccines exist yet. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to construct a eukaryotic expression vector encoding nonstructural proteins, NS3/NS4A, of HCV genotype 3a, and evaluate its expression on Huh7 cell surface. MATERIALS AND METHO...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Prognostic markers are important for predicting the progression and staging of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Ezrin (EZR) and Podocalyxin (PODXL) are proteins associated with invasion, migration and poor prognosis in various types of cancer. Recently, it has been observed that chloride intracellular channel 5 (CLIC5) forms a complex with EZR and PODXL and that it is required...

Tumor cells have the capability to trans- and to dedifferentiate, for example by reactivating embryonic development genes and stem cell characteristics. The aim of our study was to show the differential expression of stem- and progenitor cell markers in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HCC). Different human HCC cell lines (HUH7, HUH7 5-15, HUH7 pcDNA3.1, Hep3B and HepG2) were cultured...

Evidence has shown that most hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells are resistant to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-mediated apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying TRAIL-mediated apoptosis resistance are not well understood. In this study, we reported that downregulation of Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) expression by lentiviral vectors carrying sh...

Few studies have reported that the effect of sorafenib on advanced human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is taking place via the inhibition of NF-κB signal transduction. Here we constructed a human HCC Huh7 stable clone with NF-κB-responsive element to drive dual reporter genes, herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) and firefly luciferase (luc2), and co-transfected with a third red fluoresc...

Akebia Fructus has long been used for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China, while the molecular mechanism remains obscure. Our recent work found that Akebia trifoliate (Thunb.) Koidz seed extract (ATSE) suppressed proliferation and induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in SMMC-7721. The present study aimed to throw more light on the mechanism. ER stress occurred after ATSE treatment in H...

Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have an elevated alpha-feto-protein (AFP) level. This high level of AFP expression is transcriptionally controlled by the 5'-flanking sequence of the AFP gene. Using the 5'-flanking sequence as a promoter for the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) gene in an adenoviral vector (Av1AFPTK1), the therapeutic efficacy of adenovirus-mediated HSV...

Bortezomib (BTZ), a proteasome inhibitor, is the first proteasome inhibitor to be used in clinical practice. Here we investigated the mechanisms underlying acquired bortezomib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Using stepwise selection, we established two acquired bortezomib-resistant HCC cell lines, a bortezomib-resistant HepG2 cell line (HepG2/BTZ) and bortezomib-resistant Hu...

The E3L protein of vaccinia virus (VV) is well known for its capacity to evade cellular innate antiviral immunity related to interferon (IFN), for example PKR and RNaseL mediated antiviral activities. However, due to the limited range of cells that support VV E3L deletion mutant replication, the full capacity of E3L inhibiting the innate immune response induced by IFNs remains to be examined. I...