Background: Previously we found some low molecular weight proteins identified as histone in hepatocelluar carcinoma. Our objective was to clarify whether the coimmunoprecipitation of histone and cytokeratin 18 was an artifact or not.
Materials and methods: Histone 3 and cytokeratin 18 were investigated in three cases of human hepatocellular carcinoma and one case of normal liver tissue. Nuclei of the tissues were isolated; the proteins inside the nuclei were analyzed by Western blot.
Results: The results revealed histone was co-immunoprecipitated with cytokeratin 18 in hepatocellular carcinoma. It was speculated that modulation of the cytoskeleton in human hepatocellular carcinoma might disturb the organization of the nucleoskeleton. The unstable nucleoskeleton might further cause instability and fragility of nuclei, thus possibly exposing the histone and co-immunoprecipitating it with cytokeratin 18.
Conclusion: The evidence might indicate that expression of histone 3 was highly related to modulation of cytokeratin 18 and might play an important role in tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma.