Dysregulation of Proline Pathway Enzymes in FL-HCC vs HCC

Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma (FLHCC) is a rare type of liver cancer that mainly occurs in teens and young adults under the age of 40. This disease is caused by a deletion between two genes PRKACA and DNAJB1 on Chromosome 19 with no viable treatment options other than tumor resection. Preliminary proteomic data suggests dysregulations of the proline pathway enzymes in the FLHCC tumors. This project works on verifying the proteomic result by employing the Western Blot analysis comparing data to known Hepato Cellular Carcinoma proline pathway dysregulation. Our Western Blot data confirmed the downregulation of Glutaminase and the upregulation of Glutamine Synthase and Pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase within the proline pathway of FLHCC samples when compared to normal liver samples. These results can help provide unique biomarkers for the diagnosis of the disease and help in the development of targeted drugs for treatment