Decreased expression of Neurensin-2 correlates with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
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.
Ma
Hai-Qing
HQ
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China and Department of Experimental Research, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
Liang
Xiao-Ting
XT
Zhao
Jing-Jing
JJ
Wang
Hui
H
Sun
Jian-Cong
JC
Chen
Yi-Bing
YB
Pan
Ke
K
Xia
Jian-Chuan
JC
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
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C546648:NRSN2 protein, human