Increased caveolin-1 expression associated with prolonged overall survival rate in hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Recent study indicates that the binding of caveolin-1 (CAV1), the essential constituent of caveolae, to endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) prevents nitric oxide (NO) production in cirrhotic human liver. However, their interplay in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains undetermined.


METHODS
Paraffin-embedded sections from 73 HCC patients were included in this study. The expression patterns of CAV1 and eNOS determined by immunohistochemistry were correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival.


RESULTS
Although CAV1 expression did not correlate with any clinicopathological characteristic, increased CAV1 expression was associated with prolonged overall survival (p = 0.021), even when using the multivariate Cox's regression model (OR = 0.25, 95%CI = 0.08-0.72, p = 0.011). eNOS expression was correlated with an increased histological grade (p = 0.002) and intriguingly, the patients had a decreased overall survival when their lesions presented with high eNOS but low CAV1 expression concomitantly (p = 0.003). Meanwhile, the increased CAV1/eNOS merged level determined by immunofluorescence was significantly associated with a decreased histological grade and better overall survival (p = 0.023 and 0.001, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest CAV1 may play a tumour-suppressive role and can serve as a predictive biomarker in HCC. The impacts of CAV1 on hepatocarcinogenesis may occur partly through its modulation of eNOS.
Yang
Sheau-Fang
SF
Department of Pathology, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Yang
Jia-Ying
JY
Huang
Chu-Ho
CH
Wang
Shen-Nien
SN
Lu
Chia-Pei
CP
Tsai
Chia-Jung
CJ
Chai
Chee-Yin
CY
Yeh
Yao-Tsung
YT
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D051242:Caveolin 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D056945:Hep G2 Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051242:Caveolin 1; C496314:NOS3 protein, human; D052250:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type III