MicroRNA profiles in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

• Applicant: Dr. Anja Lachenmayer
• Subject Area: General and Visceral Surgery
• Term: from 2008 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 84621659

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in the world principally due to the increase of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Its incidence is increasing in the United States and Europe and is currently the main cause of death among cirrhotic patients. The prognosis remains poor since less than 40% of the patients are eligible for curative therapies. There is a need for a staging system that accurately classifies patients according to their prognosis. A deeper understanding of the molecular events implicated in HCC as well as the identification of different subclasses of patients with different prognosis will be useful to improve the management of this devastating disease. MicroRNAs (or miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (21 to 25 nucleotides) that control gene expression by targeting mRNA for translation, repression or cleavage. In recent years, miRNAs have been shown to be involved in a variety of cellular processes such as cell proliferation, cell differentiation, apoptosis, neuronal patterning and stem cell maintenance. Alterations in miRNA expression have been reported in many pathological conditions including cancer. Moreover, increasing evidences indicate that miRNA expression profiles could be more informative than mRNA profiles in terms of molecular classification and prediction of outcome. A deeper understanding of the role of miRNAs in HCC combined with the identification of the corresponding mRNA targets will provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis. The aims of this project are [1] to establish a molecular classification of HCC based on miRNAs expression profiles and [2] to identify and validate specific miRNAs crucial in human hepatocarcinogenesis.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Hosts: Professor Dr. Scott L. Friedman; Professor Dr. Josep M. Llovet