An overview of hepatocellular carcinoma study by omics-based methods
1 MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Bioinformatics Division, TNLIST/Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2 Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics/Department of Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
* Corresponding author: Tel, 86-10-62794919; Fax, 86-10-62773552; E-mail, zhangxg{at}tsinghua.edu.cn
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Abstract |
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most deadly malignancies worldwide. Scientists have been studying the molecular mechanism of HCC for years, but the understanding of it remains incomplete and scattered across the literature at different molecular levels. Chromosomal aberrations, epigenetic abnormality and changes of gene expression have been reported in HCC. High-throughput omics technologies have been widely applied, aiming at the discovery of candidate biomarkers for cancer staging, prediction of recurrence and prognosis, and treatment selection. Large amounts of data on genetic and epigenetic abnormalities, gene expression profiles, microRNA expression profiles and proteomics have been accumulating, and bioinformatics is playing a more and more important role. In this paper, we review the current omics-based studies on HCC at the levels of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. Integrating observations from multiple aspects is an essential step toward the systematic understanding of the disease.
Keywords hepatocellular carcinoma; system biology; omics; bioinformatics
Received: June 30, 2008; Accepted: July 30, 2008
These authors contributed equally to this work