Abstract:
Objective To investigate the expression of Notch1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and to evaluate its relationship with clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients.
Methods A total of 110 samples of HCC tissues and noncancerous adjacent liver tissues were collected from Xijing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University from June 2005 to June 2008. The expressions of Notch1 and the relationship between Notch1 expression and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients were analyzed using the chisquare test and Fisher exact probability. The survival curve was drawn by Kaplan-Meier method, and the survival was analyzed by using the log-rank test.
Results Different expressions of Notch1 were detected in HCC tissues. Negative expressions of Notch1 were detected in 30 samples (27.27%), weak positive expressions of Notch1 in 32 samples (29.09%), positive expressions of Notch1 in 21 samples (19.09%), and strong positive expression of Notch1 in 27 samples (24.55%). There were some weak positive stainings of Notch1 in noncancerous adjacent liver tissues, and all the Notch1 expressions in the noncancerous adjacent liver tissues were at a lower level. Positive expression of Notch1 was correlated with the tumor grade, satellite lesions, portal vein tumor thrombus, metastasis and AJCC stages (X2 =6.490, 8.959, 9.068, 23.432, 22.123, P<0.05). The 3year survival time of patients with high Notch1 expressions was 8 months, which was significantly lower than 20 months of patients with low Notch1 expressions (Log-rank value=35.096, P<0.05). The results of univariate analysis showed that positive expressions of Notch1, tumor differentiation, number of tumors, satellite lesions, portal vein tumor thrombosis,lymph node metastasis, AJCC stage were correlated with the survival of hepatic cancer patients (RR=3.364, 3.402, 2.164, 8.548, 9.470, 16.717, 6.011, P<0.05). The results of multivariate analysis showed that positive expression of Notch1, tumor differentiation, satellite lesions, portal vein tumor thrombus, AJCC stage were independent predictors for the survival of HCC patients (RR=1.883, 2.787, 3.460, 5.254, 2.952, P<0.05).
Conclusions The expression of Notch1 in noncancerous adjacent liver tissues is weak, and the expression of Notch1 in liver tissues is significantly higher than that in noncancerous adjacent liver tissues. Notch1 might be invloved in the development of HCC. The expression of Notch1 has a close relationship 〖JP3〗with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC, and it may be an independent prognostic predictor of HCC.
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