| Background and AimsPrimary liver cancer,one of the common malignant diseases of the digestive system,is highly invasive.Its incidence is mainly related to chronic viral hepatitis B,hepatitis C,cirrhosis caused by various causes,and aflatoxin B1 and other risk factors.The liver cancer treatment field is characterized by multiple methods and co-existence of multiple disciplines.The first choice is still liver resection.At present,the domestic background of liver cancer is that most patients have lost the chance of radical surgery when they are diagnosed.In light of this,the human glial cell maturation factorβgene(GMFB)is a 17 k Da,highly conserved brain protein.Complementary studies have found that GMFB is up-regulated in a variety of epithelial-derived general malignancies and has certain clinical value in predicting poor prognosis for patients.At present,the study of the expression of GMFB in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)tissues and its role is not clear.The expression of GMFB in HCC tissues was explored.The correlation between GMFB expression level and the clinicopathological factors of patients,recurrence and survival time,and the expression of Ki-67 in liver cancer tissues were revealed.The clinical significance of GMFB in hepatocellular carcinoma was revealed.Materials and methodsHepatocellular carcinoma and adjacent non-tumor tissues and pathological parameters were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China(Anhui Provincial Hospital).The expression of GMFB m RNA and protein in 36 pairs of fresh frozen HCC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(q RT-PCR)and Western blotting(WB).The immunohistochemical method(IHC)was used to detect the expression of GMFB and Ki-67 proteins in paraffin-embedded specimens of 91 HCC tissues and non-tumor tissues.group.Furthermore,the relationship between the positive expression of GMFB in HCC specimens and the clinicopathological factors and postoperative survival time of HCC patients was analyzed by statistical methods and the correlation between the expression of GMFB and Ki-67.ResultsThe results of q RT-PCR and Western bolt experiments on 36 pairs of fresh frozen HCC tissues and adjacent tissues showed that the relative expression levels of GMFB m RNA and protein in HCC tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues(both P<0.001).Among them,the relative expression of GMFB m RNA in HCC and adjacent tissues was 1.67±0.72 and 1.00±0.51,and the relative expression of GMFB protein in HCC and adjacent tissues was 1.54±0.65 and 0.90±0.55.Results of 91 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma paraffin sections IHC showed that the positive expression rates of GMFB and Ki-67 in HCC tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues(both P<0.001);the expression of GMFB and HCC microvascular invasion(P=0.045),Edmondson classification(P=0.032)and BCLC stage(P=0.012)were significantly related;in HCC tissues,the expression of GMFB and Ki-67 was positively correlated(r_s=0.265,P=0.011).Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that disease-free survival(DFS)and overall survival(OS)of patients with positive expression of GMFB were significantly shorter than those with negative expression of GMFB(DFS:4.52months vs.10.48months,P=0.001;OS:27.67months vs.39.75months,P=0.007);Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that the up-regulation of GMFB and Ki-67 was an independent risk factor affecting DFS(HR=0.441,95%CI=0.242～0.801,P=0.007;HR=1.818,95%CI=1.012～3.269,P=0.046)and OS(HR=0.504,95%CI=0.287～0.886,P=0.017;HR=1.787,95%CI=1.083～2.935,P=0.023)in HCC patients.ConclusionCompared with non-tumor tissues,GMFB protein was highly expressed in HCC,and it was significantly associated with the malignant process of hepatocellular carcinoma and the short recurrence and survival of patients.At the same time,the expression of GMFB is positively correlated with the expression of Ki-67,so it is speculated that it may play a role in controlling the proliferation and differentiation of HCC cells. |
