Abstract: Objective To screen the most overexpressed gene panel in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） using the gene expression profiles. Methods The global gene expression profiles were measured using Affymetrix U133 Plus 2.0 array in 93 HCC and paired non-tumor liver tissues. Paired t-test was used to compare the gene expression levels between HCC and paired non-tumor tissues， and the chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between the gene expression and clinicopathological characteristics.
Results When compared with the paired nontumor tissues， the top 10 overexpressed genes in HCC were CDKN3， CCL20， PTTG1， MELK， PRMT1， TOP2A， TPX2， SMYD3， TMEM106C and UCK2， with the upregulated folds between 25.2 and 44.6 （all P≤2.0×10-22）. High expression （＞median） of the CCL20， PRMT1 and UCK2 genes was significantly associated with high serum AFP levels. High expression of the CCL20， PTTG1， PRMT1， TOP2A and UCK2 genes， was associated with high EdmondsonSteiner grade； and high CCL20 expression was also significantly associated with advanced TNM stage （all P＜0.05）.
Conclusion The top 10 overexpressed genes in HCC is screened， which may provide the potential targets for the studies of molecular target therapy.