Relatively Small Contribution of Methylation and Genomic Copy Number Aberration to the Aberrant Expression of Inflammation-Related Genes in HBV-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background It is well known that chronic inflammation plays a pivotal role in the development of hepatitis B virus (HBV) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the causes behind aberrant expression of inflammation-related genes occurred in HCC remain unclear. Methods We performed array-based analyses to comprehensively investigate the contributions of DNA methylation and somatic copy number aberration (SCNA) to the aberrant expression of 1,027 inflammation-related genes in 30 HCCs and paired non-tumor tissues. The results were validated in public datasets and an additional sample set of 47 paired HCCs and non-tumor tissues. Results We identified 252 differentially expressed, 125 aberrantly methylated and 287 copy number changed inflammation-related genes. Despite reasonable statistical power, among them, only 11 genes and 56 genes whose aberrant expression was associated with DNA methylation or SCNA, respectively. DNA methylation and SCNA together contributed to less than 30% aberrant expression of inflammation-related genes. Conclusion These results suggest that molecular mechanisms other than DNA methylation and SCNA might play major role in the regulation of aberrant expression of inflammation-related gene in HBV-related HCCs.