Aberrant Methylation Status And Roles Of RASSF1A In Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background and AimHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent human cancers in China. Worldwide, HCC is the fifth most common cause of cancer-related mortality. It is now recognized that genesis of HCC is due to many risk factors and is a multistep process, but the molecular mechanisms of it are still poorly understood. Most HCC arise in the setting of Hepatitis B virus infection in Asia. Dietary carcinogens, such as aflatoxin B1, also contribute to hepatic carcinogenesis. Aberrant methylation of CpG islands within promoter region is a fundamental mechanism of inactivation of tumor suppressor gene in cancer. The Ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A) is frequently epigenetically silenced in many types of humor tumors. Ongoing studies reveal that RASSF1A can regulate cell cycles, inhibit mitosis, induce apoptosis and reduce growth when overexpressed in tumor cells. But its true biological roles in HCC are far from being understood. This study was to investigate methylation status of RASSF1A in tumor tissues, cell lines and paired plasma from HCC, verify the correlation between aberrant methylation status of RASSF1A,...