Identification of four isoforms of aldolase B down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues by means of two-dimensional Western blotting.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal diseases, and one of the major causes of death in Japan. Our previous research of proteomics for cancerous and paired non-cancerous tissues from patients with HCC with hepatitis C virus infection (HCV-HCC) by means of the combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) reported that four of numerous spots of weaker intensity in cancerous tissues than in paired non-cancerous tissues were identified as four isoforms of liver type aldolase (aldolase B). In the present study, two-dimensional (2-D) Western blot analysis demonstrated a significantly lower expression of four isoforms of aldolase B in cancerous than in non-cancerous tissues. CONCLUSION: Our finding of differences of expression aldolase B isoforms between cancerous and paired non-cancerous tissues for HCV-HCC may be useful for shedding light on some behaviors of aldolase B during hepatocellular carcinogenesis.