Gene expression profiling of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is ranked as one of the top five causes of cancer-related deaths. ICC in Thai patients is associated with infection with the liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini, but the molecular basis for development remains unclear. The present study employed a microarray approach to compare gene expression profiles of ICCs and normal liver tissues from the same patients residing in Northeast Thailand, a region with a high prevalence of liver fluke infection. In ICC samples, 2,821 and 1,361 genes were found to be significantly up- and down-regulated respectively (unpaired t-test, p<0.05; fold-change =2.0). For validation of the microarray results, 7 up-regulated genes (FXYD3, GPRC5A, CEACAM5, MUC13, EPCAM, TMC5, and EHF) and 3 down-regulated genes (CPS1, TAT, and ITIH1) were selected for confirmation using quantitative RT-PCR, resulting in 100% agreement. The metallothionine heavy metal pathway contains the highest percentage of genes with statistically significant changes in expression. This study provides exon-level expression profiles in ICC that should be fruitful in identifying novel genetic markers for classifying and possibly early diagnosis of this highly fatal type of cholangiocarcinoma.