Clinical significance of tumor suppressor candidate 1 expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To investigate the mRNA and protein expression of tumor suppressor candidate 1, in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to analyze their clinical significance. Methods Reverse transcription-polymerase and Western blotting technique were used to detect the expression of tumor suppressor candidate 1 (TUSC1) mRNA and protein expression in 58 surgical HCC specimens and matched tumor-adjacent specimens. Results The relative expression level of TUSC1 mRNA was significantly lower in HCC than in tumor-adjacent non-cancerous tissue (0.31±0.02 vs. 0.98±0.03, P=0.002) and was correlated with tumor differentiation, intrahepatic metastasis and portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) (χ2=17.030, 15.730, 18.770, P=0.002, 0.001, 0.001). TUSC1 protein expression in HCC was significantly lower than tumor-adjacent tissue (120.21±12.35 vs. 1 000.31±30.12, P=0.001) and correlated with tumor differentiation, intrahepatic metastasis and PVTT (χ2=4.613, 4.650, 6.470, P=0.032, 0.031, 0.011). There was a significant correlation between the mRNA and protein expression of TUSC1 (χ2=10.084, P=0.001). Conclusion TUSC1 expression is downregulated in HCC patients and was associated with tumor differentiation, intrahepatic invasion and PVTT. Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Tumor suppressor candidate 1; Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction; Western blotting