The association of chromosome 8p deletion and tumor metastasis in human hepatocellular carcinoma

To understand the genetic mechanisms underlying the progression of hepatoce llular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis, differences of genomic alterations betwe en 10 pairs of primary HCC tumors and their matched metastatic lesions were analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization. Several chromosomal alterat ions including loss of 8p, 4q, 17p, and 19p, gain of 5p and high-level ampl ification of 1q12-q22 were detected in two or more cases. The most signific ant finding is the loss of 8p which was detected in 8 metastatic tumors but only in 3 corresponding primary tumors (P = 0.03), This result suggests th at the deletion of chromosome 8p might contribute to the development of HCC metastasis, Another interesting result is the detection of a minimum high- level amplification region at 1q12-q22 in HCC, This result provides a candi date amplification region in HCC for further study to identify amplified on cogenes related to the development or progression of HCC, Finally, this stu dy provides a practicable model to detect specific genetic alterations rela ted to the tumor metastasis through comparing the primary tumor and its cor responding metastatic lesion using comparative genomic hybridization techni que.