Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the recommended treatment for patients at early stages of hepatocarcinoma (HCC) with potential portal hypertension and/or bilirubinemia, but without vascular-associated diseases. The patients are receiving immunosuppressive therapy to reduce graft rejection, but differential side effects have been related to calcineurin and mTOR inhibitor administration...

The study investigated the growth-inhibiting and apoptosis mediating effects of B. serrata extract as monotherapy and combination therapy with DOX against hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. Boswellic acid rich fraction of B. serrata extract was prepared. MTT assay on HepG2 and Hep3B cells was carried out using B. serrata alone and in combination with DOX. Further, caspase-3 activity, TNF-α le...

A central aim in cancer research is to identify genes with altered expression patterns in tumor specimens and their potential role in tumorigenesis. Most types of tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), are heterogeneous in terms of genotype and phenotype. Thus, traditional analytical methods like the t-test fail to identify all oncogenes from expression profiles. In this study, we pe...

Heme oxygenase overexpression or exogenous carbon monoxide (CO) protects against hepatocyte apoptosis and fulminant hepatitis. The prevention of hepatocyte apoptosis by CO has been shown to require activation of NF-kappaB. The purpose of these investigations was to determine the mechanism of CO-induced hepatocyte NF-kappaB activation and protection against apoptosis. Primary rat or mouse hepato...

While various tyrosine kinases have been associated with the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the identification of a dominant therapeutic target among them remains a challenge. Here, we investigated the role of Tyro3, a relatively uncharacterized member of the TAM (Tyro3, Axl and Mer) receptor family. The present study aimed to profile and identify potential association between ...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly malignant disease, and its outcome of routine therapies is poor. Comprehensive treatment including gene therapy is an important way to improve patients' prognosis and survival. In this study, we successfully constructed a triple-controlled cancer-selective oncolytic adenovirus, QG511-HA-Melittin, carrying melittin gene, in which the hybrid promoter, hy...

Autophagy is a homeostatic, catabolic degradation process and cell fate essential regulatory mechanism. Protracted autophagy triggers cell death; its aberrant function is responsible for several malignancies. Panobinostat, a potent pan-deacetylase inhibitor, causes endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced cell death. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of autophagy in deacetylase inhi...

BACKGROUND Gemcitabine is a potent nucleoside analogue against solid tumors, but development of drug resistance is a substantial problem. Removal of gemcitabine incorporated into DNA by repair mechanisms may contribute to resistance in chemo-refractory solid tumors. Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is usually very chemoresistant to gemcitabine. METHODS We treated HCC in vitro and in vivo ...

Members of the metallothionein (MT) family are short, cysteine-rich proteins involved in metal metabolism and detoxification, suggesting that MT proteins protect cells from damage caused by electrophilic carcinogens and thereby constitute a critical surveillance system against carcinogenesis. However, the roles of MT proteins in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not fully understood. We ...

Runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) is known to function as a tumor suppressor in gastric cancer and other types of cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its role has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the role of RUNX3 in HCC. We used the human HCC cell lines Hep3B, Huh7 and HLF; RUNX3 cDNA was introduced into Hep3B and Huh7 cell...