POSTER NO: 91

Identification of Allelic Imbalances Regions Related to Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Comparison Between Matched Primary and Metastatic Lesions in 22 Patients by Genome-Wide Microsatellite Analysis

¹Lian-Hai Zhang, ¹Lun-Xiu Qin, ¹Zhao-You Tang, ²Wei Huang
¹Liver Cancer Institute, 136 Yixueyuan Road, Shanghai, China, ²Chinese National Human Genome Center at Shanghai, Guoshoujing Road, Shanghai, China

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is believed to be the result of the accumulation of genetic alterations. Thus, to understand the molecular mechanisms of cancer metastasis, it is indispensable to identify the alterations that accumulate during cancer progression as well as those responsible for the acquisition of metastatic potential in cancer cells. In our previous study, differences of genomic alterations between matched primary and metastatic HCC were analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization. Study found that commonly detected aberrations sites were 1q, 4q, 8p, 17p, and 19p in both primary and metastatic lesions, and 8p might contribute to metastasis of HCC. To narrow the location of metastasis-related regions, we analyzed 22 primary and matched metastatic HCC by genome-wide microsatellite analysis. Results show commonly detected regions with high level of allelic imbalance are 1p33; 1q22-24, 1q41; 4q13-23, 4q28, 4q32-qter; 6p24-25; 8p21-23, 8p11-cen; 8q22-24.1; 9p22; 9q31; 10q23.3; 13q14-qter; 16p13.3; 16q; 17p; and 19p13.1, which is consistent with our previous finding that 1q, 4q, 8p, 17p, 19p are very important recurrent alterations. We also identified 4q21-22, 4q32-qter, 8p23.3, 8p11.2, 8q24.1, 9p11, 9q31, 11q23.1, 13q14.1-31, 13q32-qter, 16p13.3, 16q13, 16q22, 17p11.2-13.1and 19p13.1 as regions with notable increased-grade AI in metastatic lesions. So we confirmed that loss of 8p was more frequent in metastatic lesions and also emphasized the importance of some critical regions in 17p, 19p, etc. In conclusion, we identified some recurrent chromosome aberrations accumulated in the progression of HCC and some metastasis-related regions, which warrant future studies to identify the putative TSGs and/or oncogenes related to the progression of this fatal disease.