Bicluster and Pathway Enrichment Analysis of HCV-induced Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide and the mostcommon form of liver cancer. However, while it is associated frequently with hepatitis C virus (HCV) there isonly an elementary understanding of its molecular pathogenesis.
Methods: To gain insight into the molecularmechanisms of HCV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis, we performed microarray analysis on 75 surgical liversamples from 48 HCV-infected patients.
Results: There were 395 differentially expressed geness between cirrhoticsamples and HCC samples. Of these, 125 genes were up-regulated and 270 genes were down-regulated. Weperformed pathway enrichment analysis and screened as described previously.
Conclusions: The differentiallyexpressed genes might be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis through upregulating the pathways of ECM-receptorinteraction, focal adhesion, cell adhesion molecules and other cancer-related pathways, and downregulating thepathways of “complement and coagulation cascades”. We hope our results could aid in seeking of therapeutictargets for HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma.