Gene expression of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in response to acyclic retinoid

To better understand the molecular basis of the anticancer effects of acyclic retinoid (ACR), a genome-wide screening was applied to identify novel targets of ACR in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells JHH7. Gene expression profiles of JHH7 were measured at 0h, 1h and 4 hours after treatment with1 M All-trans retinoic acid (AtRA) or 10 M ACR. Hierarchical clustering with Wards method of 44,907 genes demonstrated diverse expression changes in HCC cells treated with ACR for 4h. A total of 973 differentially expressed genes in response to ACR by comparing with AtRA for 4h treatments were identified with a fold change more than 2. Then, network analysis was performed on the altered gene expression profiles using Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) program. The most highly populated networks were associated with the regulation of cell cycle and DNA replication, as ACR is well known to induce apoptosis and suppress cell proliferation in HCC cells. Moreover, networks related with amino acid metabolism, protein synthesis and lipid metabolism, such as the biological network entitled Lipid Metabolism, Small Molecular Biochemistry, Vitamin and Mineral Metabolism were also observed. Of interest, this network contains genes that play critical roles in controlling the development of tissues and organs such as the nuclear orphan receptor nuclear receptor subfamily 2, group F, member 2 (NR2F2), suggesting potential drug targets to prevent/treat HCC.

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Qin XY, Tatsukawa H, Hitomi K, Shirakami Y, Ishibashi N, Shimizu M, Moriwaki H, Kojima S