Molecular Epidemiology Division – Mochtar Riady Institute for Nanotechnology

Molecular Epidemiology Research Project

Molecular Epidemiology Division seeks to understand the association of genetic variation of viruses, mutation of oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes and cancer development – towards preventing the progress of carcinogenesis. Currently, we are focusing study on the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a primary cancer of the liver, including its distribution and etiology. Most of HCC cases are associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the specific genotype of HBV or HCV is suggested to be associated with an increased risk of HCC development.

Accordingly, our current topics are studies on :

1.The association of HBV genotype and/or mutation and HCC development
2.The association of HCV genotype and HCC development

We are now performing a cross sectional study by doing genetic analysis of samples from several regions of Indonesia. The samples are collected from asymptomatic HBV or HCV carriers and patients of HBV- or HCV-related chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and HCC. The cohort study will be carried subsequently to confirm the association of HBV genotype and/or mutation and HCC development. For this purpose, Molecular Epidemiology Division is prepared with samples storage and database systems, and standard equipment for molecular analysis such as ordinary and Real-Time PCR machines, Imaging System and DNA sequencer.