Rap2A Promotes Migration Asnd Invasion In Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Has Clinical Significance

Rap2A is widely upregulated in human cancers and participates in multiple cancer-related cellular processes including cytoskeleton rearrangement,arteriogenesis and cell migration.However,its role and function in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)has not been explored yet.Here,we aimed to investigate the expression pattern of Rap2A in HCC and its relationship with patients' clinicopathologic characteristics.Using western blot and quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR),we found that Rap2A protein and mRNA were remarkably overexpressed in HCC tissues and cell lines.Immunohistochemistry(IHC)showed that Rap2A was mainly localized in the cytoplasm rather than nuclei in HCC tissues.Overexpression of Rap2A was significantly correlated with tumor metastasis(p=0.002),pathological differentiation(p=0.028)and vascular invasion(p=0.017)in HCC.Furthermore,Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that HCC patients with high Rap2A expression had shorter overall survival time than those with low Rap2A expression(p=0.011).High Rap2A expression was a risk factor for HCC patients according to Cox's proportional hazard regression(p=0.026).Rap2A has no influences on HCC proliferation.Rap2A promotes HCC cell migration and invasion via MAP4K4/JNK pathway.In summary,our results suggest that Rap2A is involved in HCC metastasis and might be a novel prognostic indicator for patients with HCC.