Panel of potential lncRNA biomarkers can distinguish various types of liver malignant and benign tumors.

Purpose: Liver cancers are among the deadliest malignancies due to a limited efficacy of early diagnostics, the lack of appropriate biomarkers and insufficient discrimination of different types of tumors by classic and molecular methods. In this study, we searched for novel long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) as well as validated several known candidates suitable as probable biomarkers for primary liver tumors of various etiology.

Methods: We described a novel lncRNA HELIS (aka "HEalthy LIver Specific") and estimated its expression by RT-qPCR in 82 paired tissue samples from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), combined HCC-CCA, pediatric hepatoblastoma (HBL) and non-malignant hepatocellular adenoma (HCA) and focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH).

Shift in VEGFA isoform balance towards more angiogenic variants is associated with tumor stage and differentiation of human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common and aggressive type of malignant liver tumor. HCC progression depends significantly on its vascularization and formation of new blood vessels. Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) is a crucial regulator of tumor vascularization and components of VEGF-induced cell signaling pathways are important targets of therapeutical drugs that demonstrated the highest efficiency in case of advanced HCC (sorafenib and regorafenib).

Effect of method of deduplication on estimation of differential gene expression using RNA-seq.

Background: RNA-seq is a useful tool for analysis of gene expression. However, its robustness is greatly affected by a number of artifacts. One of them is the presence of duplicated reads.

Control of differentiation in progression of epithelial tumors.

The central concept of this chapter is that derangement of microenvironment, which takes place in tumor progression, leads to the partial or full dedifferentiation of epithelial tumors. The review considers the role of intercellular communications and interaction of cells with extracellular matrix (ECM) in differentiation and tumor progression. To illustrate this point, we consider the main characteristics of normal hepatocyte differentiation and its alterations in the course of hepatocellular carcinoma progression and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Progression of HCC in mice is associated with a downregulation in the expression of hepatocyte nuclear factors.

Hepatocyte nuclear factors (HNF) play a critical role in development of the liver. Their roles during liver tumorigenesis and progression of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) are, however, poorly understood. To address the role of HNFs in tumor progression, we generated a new experimental model in which a highly differentiated slow-growing transplantable mouse HCC (sgHCC) rapidly gives rise in vivo to a highly invasive fast-growing dedifferentiated variant (fgHCC).