Oxidative stress plays an important role in hepatocarcinogenesis. Although Sho-saiko-to (TJ-9), a Japanese herbal medicine which has been recently administered to patients with chronic liver disease in Japan, prevents hepatocarcinogenesis, the mechanism by which TJ-9 protects against cancer development is not fully understood. 8-Hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a DNA adduct by reactive oxygen species, is known as a parameter of genetic risk for hepatocarcinogenesis. To clarify whether the preventive effect on hepatocarcinogenesis by TJ-9 is dependent on 8-OHdG, the effect on 8-OHdG levels by TJ-9 was examined by using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) in a diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocarcinogenesis model of male Fisher rats. TJ-9 reduced the number of preneoplastic cells, detected as the glutathione S transferase P (GST-P)-positive hepatocytes, and inhibited the development of liver tumors. TJ-9 also significantly decreased the formation of 8-OHdG, as indicated by LC-MS and immunohistochemical analysis. In addition, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity and the number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-positive cells were not altered. An electron paramagnetic resonance spin-trapping technique showed that TJ-9 scavenges hydroxyl radicals in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that TJ-9 prevents hepatocarcinogenesis in association with inhibition of 8-OHdG formation. (HEPATOLOGY 2002;35: 1125-1133.)C hronic infection with hepatitis B and C viruses is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most common cancers in the world. 1 Human hepatocarcinogenesis is a multistep process with the involvement of molecular events accumulating in the cells during the stage of chronic liver disease. The molecular events that occur in cancer arise as a result of genetic changes caused by direct insults to the DNA. 2 Several different types of chemopreventive agents with effective stages of specific treatments have been studied for the management of the disease, and the proper timing of therapeutic intervention may be very important. 3 The Japanese herbal medicine Sho-saiko-to (TJ-9) contains crude extracts of 7 herbs (bupleurum root, pinellia tuber, scutellaria root, jujube fruit, ginseng root, glycyrrhiza root, and ginger rhizome), which is widely administered to patients with chronic liver disease in Japan. 4 TJ-9 is known to protect experimental liver injury caused by D-galactosamine 5 and liver fibrosis by inhibition of lipid peroxide formation in liver cells. 6 In humans, a double-blind, multicenter, clinical trial showed that TJ-9 lowered aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and ␥-glutamyltransferase in patients with chronic hepatitis. 7 TJ-9 has been also shown to be effective in terms of antitumor activity against HCC development. 8 However, the mechanisms by which TJ-9 and its effective ingredients protect against cancer have not been identified.8-hydroxy-2Ј-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG)...

Reactive oxygen species may be involved in the progression of chronic liver disease and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To clarify whether clinicopathological findings in liver diseases are related to oxidative DNA damage, hepatic expression of the 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) was examined in 75 liver disease patients, which included 32 chronic hepatitis (CH), 13 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 30 HCC patients. The CH patients had higher 8-OHdG-positive hepatocytes than LC (P < 0.05). In CH and LC, the number of 8-OHdG-positive hepatocytes was correlated with alanine aminotransferase and asparate aminotransferase (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). Of 30 HCC cases, 25 cases (83%) showed stronger immunoreactivity than non-cancerous counterparts. The patients with poorly differentiated HCC had a larger tumor size and higher levels of AFP, and exhibited higher labeling indices of PCNA-, TUNEL- and 8-OHdG-positive cells than those with well and moderately differentiated HCC. Our findings suggest that oxidative DNA damage is increased in association with necroinflammation in chronic liver disease and determination of 8-OHdG is useful in assessing high-grade malignancy in HCC.

Sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol (Chol) are considered essential for the formation of lipid rafts; however, the types of molecular interactions involved in this process, such as intermolecular hydrogen bonding, are not well understood. Since, unlike other phospholipids, SM is characterized by the presence of an amide group, it is essential to determine the orientation of the amide and its order in the lipid bilayers to understand the nature of the hydrogen bonds in lipid rafts. For this study, 1'-(13)C-2-(15)N-labeled and 2'-(13)C-2-(15)N-labeled SMs were prepared, and the rotational-axis direction and order parameters of the SM amide in bilayers were determined based on (13)C and (15)N chemical-shift anisotropies and intramolecular (13)C-(15)N dipole coupling constants. Results revealed that the amide orientation was minimally affected by Chol, whereas the order was enhanced significantly in its presence. Thus, Chol likely promotes the formation of an intermolecular hydrogen-bond network involving the SM amide without significantly changing its orientation, providing a higher order to the SM amide. To our knowledge, this study offers new insight into the significance of the SM amide orientation with regard to molecular recognition in lipid rafts, and therefore provides a deeper understanding of the mechanism of their formation.

The biological significance of hypermethylation of p16 gene promoter in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells remains to resolved. In order to clarify the significance of methylation of p16 gene promoter, we examined the methylation status of p16 gene in association with phosphorylation of retinoblastoma gene product (pRb) and cell growth in human HCC cell lines. The presence of methylation was examined by methylation-specific PCR. Expression and phosphorylation of p16 and pRb were examined by Western blot analysis. Genetic changes were analyzed by multiplex PCR and DNA sequencing. The effect of demethylation of p16 was assessed by cell growth. p16 gene promoter was methylated in HuH7 and HLF cells. The demethylating agent, 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-CdR), upregulated p16 mRNA in HuH6 and HuH7 cells. 5-Aza-CdR increased p16 protein expression in HuH6, HuH7, and HLF cells, and it clearly decreased the phosphorylation level of pRb in HuH6, HuH7 and PLC/PRF/5 cells. Treatment with 5-Aza-CdR inhibited the growth of HuH7 cells. Homozygous deletion and significant mutations were absent. Methylation in the p16 promoter region is biologically significant, being associated with phosphorylation of pRb and cell growth in human HCC cells.

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