The role of oxidative stress in hepatocarcinogenesis.

This thesis focuses on the importance of heme catabolic pathway in hepatic carcinogenesis. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignant liver tumour. It is primarily caused by hepatic cirrhosis or chronic viral hepatitis. Hepatic carcinogenesis is associated with increased oxidative stress. Thus, our study aimed to assess the expression of the genes involved in the homeostasis of oxidative stress in patients with HCC. The study was performed on patients with primary HCC (n = 29) and control subjects (n = 11), gene expressions of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1), biliverdin reductase A/B (BLVRA/B), endothelial growth factor (VEGFA), NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) and p22phox were analyzed in the liver tissue; the identical gene expressions were analyzed in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) in HCC patients (n = 32) and in healthy controls (n = 27). Expression of BLVRA in liver tissue and PBL was significantly increased in cancer patients, as was NOX2 expression in PBL. Expression of VEGFA in liver tissue and PBL was significantly decreased in cancer patients. The expression of the other genes studied did not differ between HCC patients and controls. These data are consistent with the results of our previous study on patients with chronic hepatitis C, in which BLVRA expression was also..