cDNA microarray analysis of early gene expression profiles associated with hepatitis B virus X protein-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the major causes of hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV encodes an oncogenic hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx), which can transactivate host cell transcriptional machinery and mediate cellular transformation. To disclose the early genetic response in HBx-mediated transformation process, we constructed a conditional HBx-expressing hepatocyte cell line, which allows us to compare the gene expression profiles under controllable HBx induction. A cDNA microarray containing more than 8700 mouse genes and ESTs was utilized to examine the gene expression profiles. We identified 260 candidate genes and 259 ESTs which have shown aberrant expression under HBx induction. Most of them are involved in signal transduction pathway, cell cycle control, metastasis, transcriptional regulation, immune response, and metabolism. These results provide additional insight into early cellular targets of HBx, which could give us a better understanding of the function of HBx and their progressive changes during HBx-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis.