The Expression And Significance Of ERCC1 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma

ObjectiveExpression of ERCC1(excision repair cross complementing 1) protein in HCC specimen, peri-cancer tissues and normal liver tissues, respectively, were detected with immunohistochemistry(IHC). The relationship of expression status of ERCC1 with clinical pathological characteristics and the time to progress(TTP), respectively, of HCC patients treated with radical resection were analyzed.MethodsERCC1 expression status of 226 patients with HCC,65 cases of peri-cancer tissue and 17 cases of normal liver tissues were detected by SupervisionTM two-step method of IHC. SPSS 13.0 statistical software was applied for data analysis.A p-value less than 0.05 was condidered significantly.The correlation between the expression of ERCC1 and the major clinical pathological characteristics of HCC were analyzed by Chi-square test.The time to recurrence or metastasis of HCC patients treated with radical resection were computed by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the Log-tank test.The prognostic relevance of ERCC1 and conventional prognostic factors were analyzed by Cox regression model.Results1. ERCC1 protein expression mainly in HCC for tumor cells, peri-cancer tissue and normal liver tissue of the liver cell nuclei, respectively. The positive expression rate of ERCC1 protein in HCC organization was significant higher than that of peri-cancer tissue and normal liver tissues, respectively.2. The positive expression rate of ERCC1 of HCC cases in difference gender, age, first-degree family history of HCC, alcohol use statue, hepatitis B virus statue, preoperative serum ALT levels, preoperative serum AST levels, preoperative serum AFP levels, size of tumor mass, number of tumor mass, stage of primary tumor(T stage) and clinical TNM stage groups, respectively (P>0.05, respectively), was not significantly different. Meanwhile, the expression rate of ERCC1 in HCC of patients with portal vein invasion statue was significantly higher than of those without portal vein invasion statue (66.7% vs 42.3%, P<0.05).3. One hundred and eighty four cases withⅠstage andⅡstage were treated with radical resection. The relationship between the positive rate of ERCC1 expression and the time to recurrence or metastasis (TTR/M) after treatment of patients were analyzed. The positive rate of ERCC1 expression in TTR/M≤6 months(M) group was markly higher than that of >6M group,>12M group,>18M group and>24M group, respectively (P>0.05, respective- ly).Meanwhile, there was no significant differenc of ERCC1 expression statue between the TTR/M≤24M group and the>24M group (P>0.05).4. The group with positive statue of ERCC1 had a markly shorter medial TTR/M than that of group with negative expression(10.3M vs 20.3M, P<0.05).5. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in HCC patients was carried out by Cox regression model, showed that preoperative serum levels of AST, tumor size and the expression of ERCC1 was independent risk factors,respectively, which may affect the TTR/M of HCC patients (P<0.05).Conclusion1. ERCC1 protein expression had significant differences in HCC organization, peri-cancer tissue and normal liver tissues, expression level of ERCC1 in HCC was obviously higher than in peri-cancer tissue and normal liver tissues, respectively.2. The expression of ERCC1 in HCC was not significantly correlated with gender,age,family medical history, drinking, type B viral hepatitis , preoperative serum of ALT or AST, preoperative serum of AFP, size of tumor mass, number of tumor mass, stage of primary tumor,clinical TNM stage,respectively (P>0.05, respectively). The expression of ERCC1 in HCC was significantly correlated with portal vein invasion statue (P<0.05).3. The medial TTR/M in group with positive expression of ERCC1 was significantly shorter than that in group negative expression of ERCC1 and it would show that the risk of recurrence and metastasis in group with ERCC1 positive expression was higher than that in group with ERCC1 negative expression.4. The preoperative serum levels of AST, size of tumor mass and ERCC1 expression statue was correlated with prognosis, respectively, and they were independent risk prognostic factors of HCC.