The Hepatitis B Virus-X Protein And HCV Core Protein Synergistically Enhance Cyclooxygenase-2 Expression In HepG2 Cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most prevalent cancer, and the fourth common cause of cancer related mortality worldwide. The development of HCC is a long-term, multi-causes, multi-step process involving an accumulation of multiple genetic lesions and changes of cell functions. The infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been identified as a major environmental risk factors to be closely associated with HCC, which account for more than 80% of HCC cases. Coinfection with both viruses can occur because of shared routes of infection. Epidemiology results indicates that patients with dual HBV and HCV infection have more severe liver disease, and are at an increased risk for progression to fulminant hepatitis, cirrhosis and HCC. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear.Overexpression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a common feature of oncogenesis in a broad spectrum of tissues, such as colon, gastric, lung,...