Serial analysis of gene expression reveals promising therapeutic targets for liver fluke-associated cholangiocarcinoma.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) continues to be a serious health problem and is the most common fatal cancer in northeastern Thailand. Comprehensive gene expression analysis was here used to identify possible therapeutic targets for CCA treatment. We assessed liver fluke-associated CCA tissue using serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) and compared the data to normal liver tissue as a part of the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP). The analysis identified 509 differentially expressed genes. Of 142 up-regulated examples, we selected candidates including TMSB10, GAL3, VDR, CYPA and CD147 for further validation in CCA tissues by immunohistochemistry. VDR, CYPA and CD147 were confirmed to be consistently overexpressed in the samples tested. The therapeutic and diagnostic potential of these genes warrants further investigation.