Understanding the Integrated Gene Regulatory Networks for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatic cancer is a malignant tumor that begins in the cells of the liver. The leading cause is a viral infection with hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become the most common form of hepatic cancer. It is the fastest-growing cause of cancer deaths in the United States. HCC is also found to be associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. To understand the gene expression regulation during HCC development, scientists have identified a few related transcription factors (TFs) and characterize their roles such as E2F1[1], Foxm1b [2] and hepatic nuclear factors [3]. However, these findings still cannot fully explain the underlying molecular mechanism during liver tumorigenesis. It is necessary to systematically study the global gene regulatory network (GRN) during HCC development.