nstitute of Biomedical Science (IBS) on Wednesday. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a primary liver cancer, is endemic in Taiwan and ranks as one of the leading causes of death because it is difficult to detect in its early stages. With a complete catalog of genes altered during the progression of HCC, scientists and doctors have a powerful tool for studying the disease and investigating treatment.
614 sequences were identified as HCC-associated by contrasting cancerous and healthy genome data. When the DNA of 45 liver-cancer patients were inspected to verify disease loci, scientists found a 96.9 percent correlation of gene expression, affirming the validity of the genome bank. Scientists are looking into creating a gene chip that will bear this DNA data and can be used to detect HCC genes before the cancer manifests, reported the IBS.
Scientists took this data a step further by comparing cancerous human and cancerous mice genomes and identifying 38 genes in mice that possibly code for HCC. The data will be useful for testing possible treatments for liver cancer, said the IBS.
"HCC manifests after an assortment of environmental 'second hits' such as lifestyle habits, aflatoxin poisoning, and alcoholism," said Dr. Chou Yu-shan of the IBS. However, he and others in the IBS emphasize that with the completed liver-cancer genome, there is hope for early detection and effective treatment. The IBS urged scientists around the world to utilize their data, which will be made accessible online.
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