Decreased expression of microRNA-148a predicts poor prognosis in ovarian cancer and associates with tumor growth and metastasis

ObjectiveMicroRNA-148a (MiR-148a) had been reported to take part in some cancer progresses, but its clinical significance in ovarian cancer had been rarely reported. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-148a as well as its roles in ovarian cancer progression.MethodsRelative expression of miR-148a in the plasma specimens of ovarian cancer patients was detected by qRT-PCR. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between miR-148a expression and clinical characteristics. The overall survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-148a. In addition, the ovarian cancer cell line SKOV-3 was separately transfected with pcDNA3-microRNA-148a over-expression vector and pcDNA3 empty vector to detect the functional roles of miR-148a in ovarian cancer progression.ResultsDecreased level of plasma miR-148a was observed in ovarian cancer patients compared with healthy controls. The expression level was associated with histopathologic grade, TNM stage and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05 for all). Besides, patients with high level of miR-148a had a longer survival time than those with low level (40.3 months vs 31.6 months, log rank test, P = 0.002). Cox regression analysis indicated that miR-148a might be a potential biomarker for ovarian cancer prognosis (HR = 1.699, 95%CI = 1.175-2.456, P = 0.005). Moreover, cell experiments confirmed that miR-148a could inhibit proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells.ConclusionMiR-148a may be a potential prognostic factor for ovarian cancer and it can suppress tumor progression.     

Fyn-related kinase expression predicts favorable prognosis in patients with cervical cancer and suppresses malignant progression by regulating migration and invasion

AimTo investigate expression pattern, clinical significance and potential roles of fyn related kinase (FRK) in cervical cancer.MethodsExpression of FRK protein and mRNA in 100 pairs of cervical cancer and matched non-cancerous tissue samples were detected by Western blot, immunohistochemistry and quantitative PCR, respectively. Statistical analyses were performed to evaluate associations of FRK protein expression with various clinicopathologic features and patients' prognosis. The effects of FRK on cell migration and invasion were examined using in vitro migration and invasion assays, respectively.ResultsWeak/negative immunostaining of FRK protein was observed in 86 (86.00%) of 100 cervical cancer tissues. Low FRK expression was significantly associated with several aggressive clinicopathologic features of cervical cancer, such as higher International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetric stage (P = 0.01), the presence of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.01) and recurrence (P = 0.02). In addition, the survival analysis showed that cervical cancer patients with low FRK expression often had shorter overall survival than those with high FRK expression. The multivariate analysis also identified FRK expression as an independent prognostic factor of cervical cancer. Functionally, the enforced expression of FRK could efficiently inhibit cell migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells, but the knockdown of FRK dramatically enhanced cell migration and invasion.ConclusionOur findings suggest that loss of FRK protein may be implicated into the tumorigenesis and cell motility of human cervical cancer. More importantly, FRK expression may function as a promising prognostic marker of this malignancy, highlighting its potentials as a candidate target for gene therapy.     

Prognostic value of miR-26a and HMGA1 in urothelial bladder cancer

BackgroundMicroRNA-26a (miR-26a) functions as a tumor suppressor by regulating its direct target gene high mobility group AT-hook 1 (HMGA1). This study was aimed to investigate the associations of differential expression of miR-26a and HMGA1 with tumor progression and prognosis in urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) patients.Materials and methodsOne hundred and twenty-six UBC patients were selected and quantitative real-time PCR was performed to detect the expression of miR-26a and HMGA1 mRNA in the respective tumors.ResultsOur data showed the decreased expression of miR-26a and the increased expression of HMGA1 mRNA in UBC tissues compared with corresponding non-cancerous tissues (both P < 0.001). Then, the expression levels of miR-26a in UBC tissues were negatively correlated with those of HMGA1 mRNA significantly (r = –0.72, P < 0.001). In addition, UBC patients with combined miR-26a downregulation and HMGA1 upregulation (miR-26a-low/HMGA1-high) more frequently had advanced pathological stage (P < 0.001) and high tumor grade (P < 0.001). Moreover, miR-26a-low/HMGA1-high expression was associated with a significantly shortest disease-free survival (P < 0.001) and overall survival (P < 0.001) of all miR-26a/HMGA1 combined expression groups. Furthermore, multivariate analysis indicated that miR-26a/HMGA1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for both disease-free survival and overall survival (both P = 0.001) in UBC patients.ConclusionInteraction between miR-26a and its target gene HMGA1 may contribute to the malignant progression of human UBC. Tumors with miR-26a downregulation in combination with high expression of HMGA1 showed a worse prognosis than the other tumors. Combined detection of their expression might be particularly helpful for surveillance of disease progression and treatment stratification.     

Diagnostic and prognostic potentials of microRNA-27a in osteosarcoma

AimGrowing evidence suggest that the microRNA (miR)-23a/24-2/27a cluster may play a crucial role in mammary tumorigenesis and act as a novel class of oncogenes. Among these members, miR-27a has been reported to promote proliferation, migration and invasion in human osteosarcoma cells. The aim of this study was to detect the serum levels of miR-27a in osteosarcoma patients and to investigate its associations with clinicopathological features and prognosis.MethodsmiR-27a levels in sera from 166 osteosarcoma patients and 60 healthy controls were detected by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Then, the associations of serum miR-27a level with clinicopathological factors or survival of osteosarcoma patients were further evaluated.ResultsCompared to healthy controls, the serum levels of miR-27a were significantly increased in osteosarcoma patients (P < 0.001). Importantly, miR-27a could efficiently screen osteosarcoma patients from healthy controls (Area under receiver operating characteristic curve, AUC = 0.867). Then, high miR-27a expression was more frequently occurred in osteosarcoma patients with advanced clinical stage (P = 0.001), positive distant metastasis (P = 0.01) and poor response to chemotherapy (P = 0.008). In Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, high miR-27a expression was a significant indicator for poor overall survival (P = 0.006) as well as poor disease-free survival (P = 0.01). Furthermore, multivariate analysis demonstrated that miR-27a expression was an independent and significant prognostic factor to predict overall survival (P = 0.01) and disease-free survival (P = 0.03).ConclusionmiR-27a expression may be elevated in sera of osteosarcoma patients and in turn contributes to aggressive progression of this malignancy. Detection of serum miR-27a levels may have clinical potentials as a non-invasive diagnostic/prognostic biomarker for osteosarcoma patients.     

Prognostic value of miR-29a expression in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia

ObjectivesAs a member of miR-29 family, miR-29a can act as either oncogene or tumor suppressor. However, its expression patterns in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are controversial according to previous studies. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the expression and clinical significance of miR-29a in pediatric AML.MethodsExpression levels of miR-29a in bone marrow mononuclear cells were detected by real-time quantitative PCR in a cohort of 106 patients with newly diagnosed pediatric AML. The prognostic values of miR-29a in pediatric AML were also analyzed.ResultsCompared with normal controls, we demonstrated a significantly decreased expression of miR-29a in the bone marrow of pediatric AML patients (P < 0.001). The expression levels of miR-29a were significantly lower in French–American–British classification subtype M7 than in other subtypes (P < 0.001) and differed significantly across cytogenetic risk groups (P = 0.002) with high miR-29a expression among those with favorable karyotypes. Moreover, low miR-29a expression was significantly associated with shorter relapse-free (P < 0.001) and overall (P = 0.008) survival in pediatric AML patients. Cox proportional hazards multivariate analysis of the univariate predictors identified cytogenetic risk and miR-29a expression as independent prognostic factors for relapse-free survival and overall survival. More interestingly, the prognostic value of miR-29a expression was more obvious in the subgroup of patients with intermediate-risk cytogenetics.ConclusionOur data indicate for the first time that the down-regulation of miR-29a was associated with advanced clinical features and poor prognosis of pediatric AML patients, suggesting that miR-29a down-regulation may be used as an unfavorable prognostic marker in pediatric AML.     

Up-regulation of miR-592 correlates with tumor progression and poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer

miR-592, as a potential biomarker, has been linked to several cancers. However, the expression level and prognostic value of miR-592 in CRC have not been elucidated. In this study, we detected the miR-592 expression in CRC serum, tumor tissues, adjacent non-tumor tissues (NATs) and four colorectal cancer cell lines by RT-PCR. Our data proved that miR-592 expression was up-regulated in clinical CRC serum and tissues (P < 0.05). Serum or tissue miR-592 in CRC metastatic patients also maintained a high level, compared to that in non-metastatic CRC patients (P < 0.05). After radical surgery, postoperative serum miR-592 level in CRC patients significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Our clinicopathological analysis revealed that high miR-592 was significant associated with the tumor size (P = 0.008), TNM stage (P = 0.026), distant metastasis (P = 0.004) and preoperative CEA level (P = 0.022), which led to a shorter overall survival rate in CRC patients (P = 0.032). Furthermore, we designed and transfected miR-592 mimics or inhibitors into the corresponding CRC lines, and our experiments in vitro demonstrated that miR-592 could promote cell proliferation, wound healing and invasion ability of CRC cells (P < 0.05), while miR-592 did not influence the CRC cell apoptosis (P > 0.05). All these results suggested that miR-592 functioned as a novel and potential carcinogen-initiated and metastasis-related biomarker in CRC, and down-regulation of miR-592 might be considered as a potentially significant molecular treatment strategy for CRC patients.     

LATS2 as a poor prognostic marker regulates non-small cell lung cancer invasion by modulating MMPs expression

Large tumor suppressor 2 (LATS2) plays significant roles in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. This study was aimed to analyze the correlation between LATS2 expression and clinicopathologic features and its prognostic significance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). LATS2 expression was examined in 73 NSCLC clinical specimens and 22 normal lung tissues using immunohistochemistry. Low levels of LATS2 protein were inversely associated with the T classification (P = 0.001), N classification (P = 0.005) and clinical stage (P = 0.001) in NSCLC patients. Patients with lower LATS2 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival than patients with high LATS2 expression. Multivariate analysis suggested that low expression of LATS2 was an independent prognostic indicator (P = 0.002) for the survival of patients with NSCLC. Furthermore, overexpression of LATS2 resulted in mobility inhibition in NSCLC cell lines A549 and H1299, and reduced protein level of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9. On the contrary, LATS2 siRNA treatment enhanced cell mobility and increased MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein expression level. In conclusion, low expression of LATS2 is a potential unfavorable prognostic factor and promoted cell invasion and migration in NSCLC.     

Effect of a high-intensity interval training on serum microRNA levels in women with breast cancer undergoing hormone therapy. A single-blind randomized trial

BackgroundThe role of microRNAs (miRs) in hormone therapy (HT) is of keen interest in developing biomarkers and treatments for individuals with breast cancer. Although miRs are often moderate regulators under homeostatic conditions, their function is changed more in response to physical activity.ObjectiveThis single-blind randomized trial aimed to explore the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on serum levels of miRs in individuals with early-stage breast cancer undergoing HT.MethodsHormone receptor-positive women with breast cancer and healthy women were randomly assigned to a healthy control group (n = 15), healthy group with HIIT (n = 15), breast cancer group with HT (HT, n = 26), and breast cancer group with HT and HIIT (HT + HIIT, n = 26). The exercise groups underwent interval uphill walking training on a treadmill 3 times a week for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, we analyzed changes in levels of cancer-related miRs (oncomiRs) and tumour suppressor miRs (TSmiRs) in response to the HT and HIIT.ResultsIn women with breast cancer versus healthy controls, the expression of some oncomiRs was significantly increased — miR-21 (P < 0.001), miR-155 (P = 0.001), miR-221 (P = 0.008), miR-27a (P < 0.001), and miR-10b (P = 0.007) — and that of some TSmiRs was significantly decreased — miR-206 (P = 0.048), miR-145 (P = 0.011), miR-143 (P = 0.008), miR-9 (P = 0.020), and let-7a (P = 0.005). Moreover, HT considerably downregulated oncomiRs and upregulated TSmiRs. HIIT for 12 weeks with HT significantly decreased the expression of the oncomiRs and significantly increased that of the TSmiRs as compared with HT alone.ConclusionsHITT could amplify the decrease and/or increase in expression of miRs associated with HT in women with breast cancer. A prospective trial could determine whether the use of circulating miRs for monitoring treatment can be useful in therapy decisions.Trial registrationIranian Registry of Clinical Trials (No.: IRCT201202289171N1).     

Expression of haptoglobin predicts recurrence in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundWe determined whether expression of haptoglobin by head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells is associated with prognosis.MethodsWestern blotting was carried out to investigate the expression of haptoglobin in oral cancer cell lines. We study patients with HNSCC without distant metastasis at diagnosis. Correlation between cellular haptoglobin and clinical characteristics of HNSCC was analyzed to assess the prognostic value of cellular haptoglobin level. Kaplan–Meier survival curves and log-rank test were used to evaluate differences in recurrence, distant metastasis, and overall survival rates between patients grouped according to cellular haptoglobin level in cancer tissues. The relationship of haptoglobin expression with survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsWestern blotting analysis showed that haptoglobin protein was expressed in 4 oral cancer cell lines. The recurrence rate was higher in HNSCC patients with over-expression of haptoglobin (> 50%) (P = 0.045). Over-expression of haptoglobin was also associated with an increased risk for recurrence (hazard ratio [HR] 3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.127–8.895; P = 0.029) after adjusting for age, gender, disease site, stage, and treatment modality.ConclusionsAltogether, the data presented show that cellular expression of haptoglobin is closely related to recurrence rate in HNSCC patients. The elevated risk of relapse was confirmed in a multivariate analysis. The cellular expression of haptoglobin may be a prognostic factor in HNSCC.     

The association between miR-146a gene rs2910164 polymorphism and gastric cancer risk: A meta-analysis

PurposeStudies have demonstrated that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNAs may lead to varying functional outcomes by altering miRNAs expression, even leading to the development of cancers. The association between a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in miR-146a rs2910164 and susceptibility to gastric cancer has been studied during the recent years, but the results are still inconclusive and inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism and the risk of gastric cancer.Materials and methodsThe databases of PubMed, MEDLINE and Web of Science were searched for suitable studies. A total of 8 published case–control studies on miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism and gastric cancer risk including 4308 cases and 6370 controls were included.ResultsOverall, significant association was observed between rs2910164 and gastric cancer risk in allele model (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.02–1.21); homozygote model (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.10–1.43) and dominant model (OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.09–1.34). Stratified analysis by ethnicity showed significant association between rs2910164 polymorphism and gastric cancer susceptibility in Asians (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.00–1.23 for G vs. C; OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.09–1.43 for GG vs. CC; OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.07–1.33 for GG vs. GC+CC, respectively). When stratified by genotyping methods and sample size, increased gastric cancer risk was only observed with the method by TaqMan and the sample size more than 1000.ConclusionIn summary, this meta-analysis indicated that miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism was associated with the susceptibility to gastric cancer, especially in Asian population.     

BCL2L12: A promising molecular prognostic biomarker in breast cancer

ObjectivesBCL2-like 12 (BCL2L12) is a new member of the BCL2 gene family that was discovered and cloned by members of our group and found to be expressed in the mammary gland. Many genes of the BCL2 family were found to be implicated in breast carcinogenesis and to serve as possible prognostic markers. The aim of the present study was the quantification of BCL2L12 mRNA expression in order to assess its value as a prognostic tissue biomarker in breast cancer (BC).Design and methodsBCL2L12 mRNA levels were determined in a statistically significant sample size of cancerous (N = 108) and adjacent non-cancerous (N = 71) breast tissues using a highly sensitive quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method. Relative quantification analysis was conducted using the comparative C_T (2^− ΔΔC_T) method, whereas the association between BCL2L12 expression and clinopathological data, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by statistical analysis.ResultsBCL2L12 mRNA expression was decreased in malignant samples compared to the histologically normal counterparts (p = 0.012). Significant relationships between BCL2L12 expression and TNM stages (p = 0.009), metastatic potential (p = 0.012), tumor size (p = 0.04) and age (p = 0.024) were observed. Moreover, Kaplan–Meier and Cox univariate analyses indicated that BCL2L12 expression is associated with longer DFS, whereas multivariate analysis pointed out the independent favorable prognostic value of BCL2L12.ConclusionsAccording to our results, BCL2L12 mRNA expression is a favorable prognostic marker of DFS for BC patients, suggesting its possible application as a novel prognostic indicator of this malignancy.     

Prognostic role of high Bmi-1 expression in Asian and Caucasian patients with solid tumors: A meta-analysis

Recently, many studies have shown that the B-cell-specific moloney leukemia virus insertion site 1 (Bmi-1) exhibits altered expression in various cancers and may serve as prognostic biomarkers. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic role of Bmi-1 expression in solid cancers. Studies were recruited by searching PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library. Thirty-nine articles including 40 studies were involved in this meta-analysis. Our results indicated that the Bmi-1 showed the opposite prognostic effect in Asian and Caucasian populations. High Bmi-1 expression as a negative predictor for overall survival (OS) in Asian patients (HR = 1.96, 95% CI 1.62–2.36), but a positive predictor in Caucasian populations (HR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.63–0.93). Furthermore, we took a further subgroup analysis based on tumor type in these two populations, respectively. In Asian cases, high expression of Bmi-1 was associated with poor OS in oesophageal carcinoma (HR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.52–2.46), gastric cancer (HR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.22–1.85), lung cancer (HR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.05–2.85), cervical cancer (HR = 2.80, 95% CI 2.26–3.47) and colorectal cancer (HR = 3.36, 95% CI 2.19–5.15), rather than in breast cancer and HCC. In Caucasian populations, high expression of Bmi-1 was associated with better OS in breast cancer (HR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.51–0.97), but it showed no significance in oesophageal carcinoma. In conclusion, high Bmi-1 expression was significantly associated with poor survival in Asian patients with oesophageal carcinoma, gastric cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical carcinoma, whereas high level of Bmi-1 can predict better prognosis in Caucasian patients with breast cancer.     

Serum neural precursor cell-expressed,developmentally down regulated 9 (NEDD9) level may have a prognostic role in patients with gastric cancer

BackgroundNeural precursor cell-expressed, developmentally down regulated 9 (NEDD9), a member of Crk-associated substrate (CAS) family, is highly expressed in multiple cancer types and involved in cancer cell adhesion, migration and invasion. The prognostic value of NEDD9 has been evaluated before and its expression is a predictor of poor prognosis in cancer patients. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the serum levels of NEDD9 in gastric cancer (GC) patients.Patients and methodsA total of 68 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of GC were enrolled into this study. Serum NEDD9 concentrations were determined by the solid-phase sandwich (ELISA) method. Twenty-eight healthy age- and sex-matched controls were included into the analysis.ResultsThe median age at diagnosis was 60 years, range 21 to 84 years. Forty-nine (72%) patients were male and cardia was the most common tumor localization (n = 37, 77%) in GC patients. The most frequent histologic subtype was adenocarcinoma (n = 45, 66%). Liver was the most common metastatic site in 32 patients with metastasis (n = 14, 44%). Sixty-one percent of 23 metastatic patients who received palliative chemotherapy (CTx) were CTx-responsive. The median follow-up time was 8 months (range 1 to 23 months). At the end of the observation period, 17 patients (25%) experienced disease progression and 28 of the remaining patients (41%) died. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of the whole group were 4.0 ± 0.7 months [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3–5 months] and 14.6 ± 1.2 months (95% CI = 12–17 months), respectively. One-year and 2-year OS rates were 54.4% (95% CI = 41.3–67.5) and 51.2% (95% CI = 37.3–65.1), respectively. The median serum NEDD9 levels of GC patients were significantly higher than controls (1339.51 vs. 1187.91 pg/mL, P = 0.02). There was no significant difference according to known disease-related clinicopathological or laboratory parameters (P > 0.05). Serum NEDD9 levels had a significant impact on PFS (P = 0.04). On the other hand, serum NEDD9 levels showed no significantly adverse effect on OS (P = 0.50).ConclusionSerum NEDD9 level may be a diagnostic marker for GC patients. Moreover, our study results showed that it was elevated in GC patients and had an unfavorable prognostic effect. However, it has no predictive role on CTx response.     

HER2 codon 655 polymorphism is associated with advanced uterine cervical carcinoma

Objectives:It has been suggested that overexpression of HER2 in advanced cervical tumors can be considered an independent predictor of poor patient outcome.Design and methods:Employing PCR-RFLPs, we examined the distribution of HER2 Ile655Val (rs 1136201) genotypes and alleles in patients with advanced cervical cancer (n = 109) and controls (n = 220).Results:Odds ratio (OR) for patients with advanced cervical cancer with the HER2 Val/Val homozygous or Val/Ile heterozygous state was 1.778 (95% CI = 1.117–2.830, p = 0.0176). We also observed an association of the HER2 Val/Val genotype with advanced cervical cancer in the patient group OR = 3.706 (95% CI = 1.061–12.950, p = 0.0459). However, we did not find a significant association between the distribution of genotypes or alleles and cancer characteristics for the HER2 Ile655Val polymorphism.Conclusions:Our results indicate that the HER2 655Val variant may be associated with the incidence of advanced cervical cancer.     

Expression of bcl-2 correlates with poor prognosis and modulates migration of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells

BackgroundThe role of bcl-2 expression, bcl-2 inhibitor HA14-1, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 is still unclear in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).MethodsFrom 1996 to 2000, 145 patients with newly diagnosed NPC who were treated with high dose radiotherapy were enrolled. The relationship between bcl-2 expression, TNM stage, and disease-specific survival was analyzed. Furthermore, the NPC cell line HONE-1 was used to confirm the relationship between bcl-2 and cell metastasis.ResultsAmong the 145 patients, 47 (32.4%) of them were bcl-2 positive. The expression of bcl-2 was significantly correlated with neck lymph node metastasis (p = 0.006), and patients with negative bcl-2 expression had better disease-free survival (p = 0.007). A Cox regression model revealed that only bcl-2 expression (p = 0.023) and stage IV (p = 0.043) were statistically significant in the prognosis of NPC. In vitro analysis also showed that treatment with the bcl-2 inhibitor HA14-1 exerted an inhibitory effect on migration and expression of MMP-2 in HONE-1 cells.ConclusionsBcl-2 expression represents an important and easily assayed prognostic factor, and it may play an important role in lymph node metastasis. Inhibition of the migration mediated by MMP-2 may be a key feature for the prevention of cancer metastasis.     

Expression of STK15 mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma and its prognostic significance

ObjectivesTo investigate whether the STK15 mRNA expression correlates with clinicopathologic features and the prognosis of HCC patients.Design and methodsThree hepatoma cell lines, two normal liver epithelial cell lines, hepatoma tissues, adjacent tumor tissues and normal liver tissues were obtained from 46 HCC patients. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR assays were performed to detect the expression of STK15 mRNA in above cell lines and tissues. Moreover, the expression of STK15 protein in hepatoma tissues, adjacent tumor tissues and normal liver tissues was also examined by immunohistochemical staining. Finally, correlations between STK15 mRNA expression and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients were evaluated.ResultsSTK15 mRNA showed higher levels in hepatoma cell lines than in normal liver epithelial cell lines. Moreover, the mean levels of STK15 mRNA and protein expression showed statistical difference between tumor tissues, tumor adjacent tissues and normal liver tissues (P < 0.01). By immunohistochemical analysis, we found that paraffin-embedded archival HCC tissues showed higher expression of STK15 than adjacent tumors and normal liver tissues. Furthermore, HCC patients with higher STK15 mRNA expression showed poorer prognosis than those with lower STK15 mRNA expression. The high level of STK15 mRNA expression was significantly correlated with tumor stage (P = 0.0081), more frequent lymph node (P = 0.0380) or hematogenous metastasis (P = 0.0066), and a higher incidence of cancer-related death (P = 0.0083). Furthermore, the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of HCC patients with higher STK15 mRNA expression group (47.6% and 52.7%) were significantly lower than those of patients with low STK15 mRNA expression group (56.9% and 68.8%, P = 0.0018 and 0.0047).ConclusionsSTK15 mRNA might be a good marker for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients.