Distinct chromosomal abnormality pattern in primary liver cancer of non-B, non-C patients

To discriminate among the chromosomal abnormalities associated with the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we performed a comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis on 34 HCCs resected on noncirrhotic livers from patients serologically negative for both hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses. The results mere compared to those of a previous analysis of 50 HCCs selected on the basis of their positivity for HBV infection, The majority of the abnormalities found in the HBV positive cases (losses of chromosome arms 1p, 8p, 6q, 13q and 14q and gains of 1q, 8q, 6p and 17q) were similarly detected in the virus negative specimens. In contrast, a significant decrease (40% on average) was observed for losses at 4q, 16q and 17p in non-viral HCC samples, suggesting that these abnormalities are tightly associated with HBV infection. Thus, in addition to a common pathway towards malignancy, a subset of alterations may preferentially contribute to virus-induced carcinogenesis. In a parallel CGH study of 10 fibrolamellar carcinomas, a rare subtype of HCC, me found in sis out of the seven informative cases, gains of chromosome arm Iq, This region, which is also preferentially amplified in non fibrolamellar tumors (58%), may contain an essential proto-oncogene commonly implicated in liver carcinogenesis.