Abstract: Objective To detect the differentially expressed Wnt signaling pathway genes in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）, and investigate the relationship between HCC and Wnt signaling pathway. Methods The expression levels of 78 genes related Wnt signaling pathway were measured using Affymetrix GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 20 array in 93 cases of HCC tissues and paired nontumor liver tissues.
Results A total of 10 up-regulated genes （TCF19， MMP-12， DKK1， Bcl-9， SFRP4， MMP-1， PYGO2， FZD6， MMP-9 and Wnt6）， and 5 down-regulated genes （SFRP1， TCF21， SFRP5， FZD1 and Wnt2） were identified to be significantly differentially expressed in HCC tissues， compared with paired non-tumor liver tissues. The expression level of TCF19， the most overexpressed gene in this series （fold change=9.61， P=1.07×10^-26）， was significantly correlated with FZD1， FZD6， Bcl-9， Wnt6， MMP-1 and MMP-12 （P＜0.05）. The expression of TCF19 was significantly associated with the number of tumor （P=0.017） and Edmondson-Steiner grade （P=0.046）. Conclusion Multiple differentially expressed genes in Wnt signaling pathway in HCC are screened. Increased expression of TCF19， a downstream transcription factor， may be the key terminal effect of the Wnt signaling pathway activation， and its biological and pathological significance in HCC merits further investigations.