Project description:AEG-1 is overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and positively regulates development and progression of HCC A transgenic mouse with hepatocyte-specific expression of human AEG-1 was generated using mouse albumin promoter/enhancer in B6/CBA background.
Project description:AEG-1 is overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and positively regulates development and progression of HCC A transgenic mouse with hepatocyte-specific expression of human AEG-1 was generated using mouse albumin promoter/enhancer in B6/CBA background. Hepatocytes were isolated from WT and Alb/AEG-1 mice for RNA extraction and Affymetrix microarray hybridization.
Project description:Transgenic mice (n= 40) overexpressing FEAT in the thymus, spleen, liver, and lung developed malignant lymphoma (47.5%, 19/40) and liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) (35%, 14/40). Notably, HCC arose in half (13/26) of the male transgenic mice, indicating a strong male predilection similar to human HCC. Microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH) suggested that HCC in FEAT transgenic mice recapitulates human hepatocarcinogenesis.
Project description:Genomic sequencing of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) uncovers a paucity of actionable mutations, underscoring the necessity to exploit epigenetic vulnerabilities for therapeutics. In HCC, EZH2-mediated H3K27me3 represents a major oncogenic chromatin modification, but how it modulates the therapeutic vulnerability of signaling pathways remains unknown. Here, we identified that EZH2 maintains H3K27 methylome through epigenetic silencing of specific gene sets. ChIP-seq revealed enrichment of EZH2/H3K27me3 at silenced loci in HBx-transgenic (TG) mouse-derived HCCs, including tumor suppressors whose down-regulation significantly correlated with EZH2 overexpression and poor survival of HCC patients. Defining the aberrant chromatin landscape of HCC sheds light into the mechanistic basis of effective EZH2-targeted inhibition.
Project description:The WHV/c-myc transgenic mouse is an animal model of hepatocarcinogenesis that can exquisitely mimic the cancer staging in human Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), in which the c-myc oncogene is activated by adjacent woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) DNA sequences. Compared to other models of c-myc transgenic mice, WHV/c-myc mice stably develop HCC with a relatively short latent period of 8 to 12 months, with a high (near 100%) tumor incidence. The aim of this study was to discover new HCC biomarkers and analyze expression patterns of selected candidate biomarkers prior to liver tumor onset by employing WHV/c-myc transgenic mice.
