To determine the expression levels of PTEN and p53 genes in HBsAg-positive liver tumors and analyze the data for correlations of the expression levels of each gene with pathological features of primary liver cancer (PLC).
The p53 tumor suppressor gene is known to play an important role in carcinogenesis of different tissues being involved in gene transcription, DNA synthesis and repair and somatic mutations of p53 are common in primary liver cancer.