Compared with control, expressions of the TF genes EGR1, FOS and ETS2 were all up-regulated in the HCC cell line, HepG2; while LEF1 was down-regulated.
These findings provided new insights into the pathogenesis of HCC and an unexpected effect of the interaction between rs391957 and Ets-2 on hepatocarcinogenesis, and especially supported the hypothesis that stress-related and evolutionarily conserved genetic variant(s) influencing transcriptional regulation could predict susceptibilities.
Our findings demonstrate that hepatitis B virus core protein promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation by up-regulating the c-Ets2-dependent expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase.
The expression of ets-2 was immunohistochemically investigated with 91 HCC, 46 noncancerous lesions, 8 atypical adenomatous hyperplasias and 14 normal liver controls.