HDAC9 Is Preferentially Expressed in Dedifferentiated Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells and Is Involved in an Anchorage-Independent Growth.

Aberrant activation of histone deacetylases (HDACs) is one of the causes of tumor cell transformation in many types of cancer, however, the critical HDAC responsible for the malignant transformation remain unclear. To identify the HDAC related to the dedifferentiation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, we investigated the expression profile of HDACs in differentiated and undifferentiated hepatoma cells. We found that HDAC9, a member of the class II HDAC, is preferentially expressed in undifferentiated HCC cells.