alpha-fetoprotein-producing hepatoma cell lines share common expression profiles of genes in various categories demonstrated by cDNA microarray analysis.

Liver carcinogenesis is a multistep process involving various genetic alterations. cDNA microarray containing 1,080 elements (930 unique genes) was used to comprehensively analyze the genetic alterations in hepatoma cell lines, and clustering analysis was used to analyze the relatedness of the gene-expression profiles. Among 7 hepatoma cell lines analyzed, 5-alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-producing hepatoma cell lines (HepG2, Huh7, Hep3B, PLC/PRF/5, and Huh6) were shown to have common gene-expression profiles compared with those of AFP-negative hepatoma cell lines (HLE and SK-Hep1) and cancer cell lines of nonhepatocyte origin (HeLa and KMBC). Furthermore, HepG2, Huh7, and Hep3B had higher expressions of AFP and shared a common gene-expression profile even when compared with other AFP-producing cells. Analysis of the genes with a common expression profile among these 3 AFP-positive cells revealed 254 genes across various categories. We found that 18 of these genes consistently showed altered levels of expression (more than 3-fold changes) in the 3 AFP-producing hepatoma cell lines (11 up-regulated and 7 down-regulated). In these 18 genes, 5 genes, including that for AFP, were previously reported to be involved in HCC and 6 genes involved only in other types of cancer. Our study showed that AFP-producing hepatoma cell lines shared a distinct expression profile of genes in various categories. An understanding of a causal relationship of this particular expression profile of genes to AFP-positive and AFP-negative hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may contribute to more rational therapy in future.