We searched for alterations in the 17 coding exons of ATIP/MTUS1 by means of denaturating high-performance liquid chromatography and sequencing, in 51 HCC tumors and 58 cell lines for which loss of heterozygosity status was known.
Eight of 14 biopsy tissues obtained from advanced HCC, 6 of 13 surgically removed HCC tissues, and 2 of the adjacent noncancerous tissues contained aberrant KAP transcripts.
Some of the PIK3CA mutations were detected in the early lesions of breast cancer carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and gastric carcinomas, suggesting that PIK3CA mutation may occur independent of stage of the tumors.
Our results indicate that mutations of the tyrosine kinase domain of the MET gene may be involved in the acceleration of the carcinogenesis in childhood HCC.