github link
Accession IconGSE35306

Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinomas exhibit progenitor features and activation of Wnt and TGFbeta signaling pathways

Organism Icon Homo sapiens
Sample Icon 30 Downloadable Samples
Technology Badge Icon Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST Array (hugene10st)

Submitter Supplied Information

Description
Primary liver tumours include hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), cholangiocarcinomas (CC) and a group of rare tumours exhibiting biliary and hepatocytic differentiation called combined hepatocholangiocarcinomas (cHCC-CC). To better define this latter group, we take advantage of a series of these tumours based on their morphological characteristics and we performed transcriptional analysis allowing thereafter global comparison with published data. We show that most cHCC-CCs express progenitor cell traits, are committed to biliary lineage and are mainly associated to the activation of Wnt/beta-catenin and TGFbeta signalling pathways. Wnt/beta-catenin pathway activation in cHCC-CC is evidenced by the expression of both its direct targets such as LEF1 and EPCAM. In addition, extracellular matrix (ECM) genes and ECM-remodelling genes which are upon the control of TGF profibrotic program were found up-regulated in cHCC-CC. Interestingly, we show that CC and most cHCC-CC share characteristics associated to a subtype of poorly differentiated HCC suggesting that these tumours could originate from a stem/progenitor cell. The plasticity of these cells may explain the phenotypical heterogeneity of these tumors with the maintenance of some hepatocellular differentiation features such as albumin expression. Interestingly, this is shared by at least one third of CC, raising the hypothesis of a potential continuum between CC, cHCC-CC and poorly differentiated HCC.
PubMed ID
Total Samples
30
Submitter’s Institution

Samples

Show of 0 Total Samples
Filter
Add/Remove
Accession Code
Title
Sex
Specimen part
Processing Information
Additional Metadata
No rows found
Loading...