Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major type of liver cancer. In Hong Kong, thousands of deaths are related to this disease every year. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the major risk factors of HCC development. The high prevalence of HBV carriers in Southeast Asia including Hong Kong can account for the particularly high HCC cases in these areas. HCC is often asymptomatic. The diagnosis and treatment are often delayed which lead to inapplicable of surgical resection. Meanwhile, conventional treatment regimes such as systemic chemotherapy were found to have limited responses. Hence, the case mortality rate of HCC is the second highest among all the cancers. Granulin-epithelin Precursor (GEP) is a glycoprotein growth factor which regulates multiple cellular functions. Our group has demonstrated that GEP is over-expressed in more than 70% of HCC cases and GEP expression is positively correlated to tumor malignancy. Our group has also verified that suppression of GEP by monoclonal antibody leads to significant inhibition of HCC growth and reduction of malignancy. Therefore, GEP has the potential to be a novel therapeutic target of HCC. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that regulate mRNA translation. Previous studies showed that miRNA dys- regulation is closely associated with HCC progression and the high stability of miRNAs allows them to be cancer biomarkers or therapeutic targets. This project aims to investigate the miRNAs that regulate GEP and their functions in HCC. Potential GEP-regulating miRNAs were identified by literature review and in silico prediction by bioinformatics tools. MiR-615-5p, miR-588, miR-29b, miR-195, and miR-659 were identified as the potential candidates. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was utilized to examine the miRNAs’ expressions in HCC clinical samples. Only miR-29b and miR-195 were detected and hence they were selected for further study. Our results showed that miR-29b and miR-195 expression levels were significantly decreased in HCC comparing to adjacent non‐tumor tissue (P<0.001) in more than 70% of cases. MiR‐195 and miR‐29b were over‐expressed in Hep3B HCC cell lines by miRNA mimics and GEP protein level was significantly suppressed after miR-29b mimic transfection. The transcript level of GEP was found to be unchanged after the miR‐29b over-expression. This suggests miR‐29b does not regulate GEP protein expression by mRNA degradation. The effects of miR‐195 and miR‐29b on HCC proliferation were also examined. The growths of HCC cells were suppressed notably after over-expression of miR‐195 (P<0.005) and miR‐29b (P<0.005) respectively. In conclusion, miR‐195 and miR‐29b are frequently down-regulated in HCC. MiR‐29b can negatively regulate GEP expression and does not interfere with GEP mRNA level. Furthermore, miR‐195 and miR-29b can function to inhibit HCC cell growth significantly. / published_or_final_version / Surgery / Master / Master of Philosophy

abstract / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

abstract / Biochemistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

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Previously a t(2;14)(p13;q32) translocation was characterized in four unusually aggressive cases of B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). A gene located near the 2p13 breakpoint, B cell lymphoma/leukemia 11A (BCL11A), was shown to overexpress 3 isoforms (BCL11A-XL, L and S). Bcl11a knockout mice are severely impaired in B cell development at the early (pro-B) stage. I have further characterized BCL11A, focusing on the most abundant and evolutionarily conserved isoform, BCL11A-XL (XL). I demonstrated that XL resides in the nuclear matrix, is modified by ubiquitination, and is destabilized by B cell antigen receptor ligation. I identified domains within XL required for its localization within nuclear paraspeckles and for its transcriptional repression. While BCL11A-XL represses model promoters in non-B cells, its biologically relevant targets in B lymphocytes were unknown. I have identified and confirmed a number of XL targets which are both up- and down-regulated by XL over-expression in B cell lines. A number of these genes have been implicated in B cell function, including the V(D)J recombination activating (RAG) genes. Both RAG1 and RAG2 transcripts were up-regulated by XL. XL binds to the RAG1 promoter and RAG enhancer (Erag) in vivo as well as in vitro. Unexpectedly, XL repressed RAG1 transcription in non-B cells, indicating that additional B cell-specific factors are required for activation. Overexpression of XL in a V(D)J recombination-competent pre-B cell line markedly induced RAG expression and VDJ recombination. IRF4 and IRF8, transcription factors previously shown to be required for early B cell development, were also induced by BCL11A-XL. I propose that the early B cell progenitor block in Bcl11a knockout mice is, at least in part, a direct result of BCL11A-XL regulation of V(D)J recombination. Further experiments are required to establish how other XL targets promote B cell lineage development and how malignant transformation such as in B-CLL may corrupt BCL11A function.

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published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences