title: Expression of CD147 as a significantly unfavorable prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate whether the expression of CD147 could be a prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma. Tissue samples from 111 hepatocellular carcinoma patients were immunohistochemically stained with anti-CD147, anti-matrix metalloproteinases-2 and anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibodies. Tumor microvessel density was evaluated using CD34. The survival curves were estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and the prognostic significance of the marker was analyzed using the log-rank test. In addition, the identification of relevant prognostic factors was performed by multivariate Cox regression analysis. CD147 was mainly expressed in cancerous lesions and its expression was positively correlated with metalloproteinases-2 (P<0.0001), vascular endothelial growth factor (P<0.0001) and microvessel density CD34 (P<0.0001). Furthermore, CD147 was significantly associated with the presence of venous invasion (P=0.0013), tumor size (P<0.0001) and pTNM tumor stages (P=0.0001), as well as serum alpha-fetoprotein level (P<0.0001). Patients with positive expression of CD147 had poorer tumor recurrence-free survival than those with negative expression of CD147 (P<0.0001). Analyzed by a proportional hazard model, strong expression of CD147 had the highest risk ratio of recurrence among these markers (P<0.0001). The findings suggest that CD147 may be a significant independent predictor of poor survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, and may be involved in tumor growth, invasion and angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Cell Engineering Research Centre, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China. zqy6920@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiao-Ming
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Xin-Guo
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Guang-Sheng
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Zhi-Nan
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D051926:Basigin / Q000378:metabolism*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051926:Basigin; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2