The Proteomics Of Hepatitis B Virus Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant cancer. The highest mortality rate is in China (34.7 cases per 105 people, the second leading cause of cancer deaths since 1990s). HBV is a leading cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, accounting for 1 million deaths annually. The hepatitis B virus(HBV), discovered in 1966, infects more than 350 million people worldwide.Nowadays, the proteomic approach is considered to be the key technology in the global analysis of protein expression and in the understanding of gene function in the postgenomic era. Rapid advances in proteomic studies have greatly increased our understanding of the complex interactions of proteins within the cellular environment. Disease proteomics, especially in cancer proteomics is particularly popular. Proteomes of ten pairs of clinical hepatitis B virus associated HCC tissue samples were obtained by high resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Comprehensive analyses of proteins associated with B-type HCC were focused on total differentially expressed proteins(> two-fold increase or decrease, Student' s t-test, p< 0.05) from one pair of samples. A total of 100 protein spots, corresponding to 80 different gene products, were identified. Proteins whose expression levels were difFerent by more than 2-fold in at least 50% of the cases (five of ten cases) were further analyzed and 45 proteins were selected out as candidates for HCC-associated proteins.We study HCC related protein hnRNP K (8 repeat in 10 cases). Since its original identification as a component of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) complex, K protein has been found not only in the nucleus but also in the cytoplasm and mitochondria and is implicated in chromatin remodeling, transcription, splicing and translation processes. K protein contains multiple modules that, on one hand, bind kinases while, on the other hand, recruit chromatin, transcription, splicing and translation factors. Moreover, the K protein-mediated interactions are regulated by signaling cascades. These observations are consistent with K protein acting as a docking platform to integrate signaling cascades by facilitating cross-talk between kinases and factors that mediate nucleic-acid-directed processes. K protein is an important factor in multi-cell lives.In this study, we use 2-DE combined with MS to find the differential proteome expression between HCC tumorous tissue and adjacent paired nontumorous tissue. Then, we exploit hnRNP K, one of 80 different protein or polypeptide chains we finally identified, in differential confluent rate cells. The result reveals some relations with hnRNP K and cell growth, and also subcellular localization of hnRNP K in differential confluent rate cells.