Hepatitis C virus replication is associated with expression of transforming growth factor-alpha and insulin-like growth factor-II in cirrhotic livers.

The molecular role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in liver disease has yet to be clarified. In this study, we analyzed the relationship of HCV replication with mRNA expression of growth factors and mutation of tumor suppressor gene, ie, transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1), which promotes cirrhotic changes; TGF-alpha, insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II), which are both related to hepatocyte transformation; and tumor suppressor gene p53, which is associated with HCC progression. A semiquantitative RNA polymerase chain reaction (RNA-PCR) was used to analyze genetic expression in 31 cirrhotic liver specimens from patients with HCV. In order to detect HCV replication, the minus-strand RNA of HCV, which serves as a template for the synthesis of genomic plus-strand RNA, was examined. The expression of the growth factors was semiquantified by RNA-PCR, and the mutation of p53 was detected using PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism. According to the semiquantitative analysis, HCV replication was not associated with the expression of TGF-beta 1 but was significantly so with the overexpression of TGF-alpha (r = 0.74) and IGF-II (r = 0.65) in the HCV-positive cirrhotic livers. No mutation of p53 was recognized in any of the samples. Our investigation thus suggested that the replication of HCV might mediate the coexpression of TGF-alpha and IGF-II and act as a possible initiating factor for hepatocarcinogenesis.