title: Decreased expression of Neurensin-2 correlates with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the expression of Neurensin-2 (NRSN2) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its prognostic values in predicting survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  The expression and prognostic significance of NRSN2 in HCC was examined by performing immunohistochemical analysis using a total of 110 HCC clinical tissue samples, and Western blotting analysis to further confirm the result.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Decreased NRSN2 expression was shown in 70.9% cases. Loss of NRSN2 expression in HCC was significantly related to tumor size (P = 0.006). Larger tumor size was related to negative expression of NRSN2. Patients showing negative NRSN2 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival than those with positive expression (P = 0.008). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that NRSN2 expression level was an independent factor of survival (P = 0.013). Western blotting analysis further confirmed decreased expression of NRSN2 in tumor tissues compared with non-tumorous tissues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study indicated that NRSN2 could be a tumor suppressor gene for HCC and a candidate biomarker for long-term survival in HCC.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China and Department of Experimental Research, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Xiao-Ting
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Jing-Jing
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian-Cong
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Yi-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Jian-Chuan
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C546648:NRSN2 protein, human