Expression of P300/CBP-associated factor in hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinicopathological significance

Abstract:

Objective：To investigate the expression of P300/CBP-associated factor（PCAF） and its correlation with the clinicopatholog－ical features in hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC）. Methods：Forty samples of surgically resected HCC and adjacent noncancerous tis－sues were collected. PCAF expression in the samples was detected using RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining. Correlation be－tween PCAF protein expression and clinicopathological feature was analyzed. PCAF protein expression in normal hepatic cell line （LO2） and HCC cell lines（HepG2 and SMMC-7721） was detected. Results：mRNA and protein expression of PCAF in HCC tissues was significantly down-regulated compared with that of adjacent noncancerous tissues（P<0.05，respectively）. Clinicopathological analysis suggested that PCAF protein low-expression was associated with tumor intrahepatic metastasis（rs=0.413，P=0.037），portal vein invasion（rs=0.589，P=0.011） and advanced TNM stage（rs=0.513，P=0.029）. Expression of PCAF protein in HCC cell lines HepG2 and SMMC-7721 was significantly lower compared with that in hepatic cell line LO2（P<0.05，respectively）. Conclusions：Expression of PCAF is down-regulated in HCC cell lines and HCC tissues and the low-expression of PCAF is correlated with poor clinico-pathological characteristics of HCC.