Inhibition of connective tissue growth factor overexpression decreases growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

Background: We have previously found that connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is highly expressed in a rat model of liver cancer. Here, we examined expression of CTGF in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and its effect on cell growth.

Methods: Real-time PCR was used to observe expression of CTGF in human HCC cell lines HepG2, SMMC-7721, MHCC-97H and LO2.

Lentivirus-mediated overexpression of microRNA-199a inhibits cell proliferation of human hepatocellular carcinoma.

microRNA-199a (miR-199a) is a highly conserved miRNA, always deregulated in numerous human tumors. The results of microarray analysis indicated that miR-199a was frequently downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression levels of miR-199a in 11 pairs of matched HCC neoplastic and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues, 5 HCC cell lines and liver cell line L02 were examined by quantitative real-time PCR analysis.