Transcriptome profiles associated with selenium-deficiency-dependent oxidative stress identify potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets in liver cancer cells

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancer types with high mortality rates and displays increasedresistance to various stress conditions such as oxidative stress. Conventional therapies have low efficacies due to resistance and off-targeteffects in HCC. Here we aimed to analyze oxidative stress-related gene expression profiles of HCC cells and identify genes that couldbe crucial for novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. To identify important genes that cause resistance to reactive oxygen species(ROS), a model of oxidative stress upon selenium (Se) deficiency was utilized. The results of transcriptome-wide gene expression datawere analyzed in which the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between HCC cell lines that are either resistant orsensitive to Se-deficiency-dependent oxidative stress. These DEGs were further investigated for their importance in oxidative stressresistance by network analysis methods, and 27 genes were defined to have key roles; 16 of which were previously shown to have impacton liver cancer patient survival. These genes might have Se-deficiency-dependent roles in hepatocarcinogenesis and could be furtherexploited for their potentials as novel targets for diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.