title: Downregulation of polo-like kinase 4 in hepatocellular carcinoma associates with poor prognosis.
abstract: Polo-like kinase 4 (PLK4), belonging to serine/threonine kinase family, is critical for centriole replication and cell cycle progression. PLK4 has been proposed as a tumor suppressor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its expression and significance in HCC have not been well studied. In the present study, we found that PLK4 was markedly downregulated in both HCC cell lines and fresh cancer tissues, using quantitative real-time-PCR and western blot. Immunohistochemistry data also revealed that decreased expression of PLK4 was present in 72.4% (178/246) of HCC tissues, compared with the corresponding adjacent nontumorous tissues. Furthermore, PLK4 expression significantly correlated with clinicopathological parameters, including clinical stage (P=0.034), serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) (P=0.019) and tumor size (P=0.032). Moreover, HCC patients with low PLK4 expression survived shorter than those with high PLK4 expression, as indicated by overall survival (P=0.002) and disease-free survival (P=0.012) assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. In addition, multivariate analysis suggested PLK4 as an independent predictor of overall survival (HR, 0.556; 95%CI, 0.376-0.822; P=0.003) and disease-free survival (HR, 0.547; 95%CI, 0.382-0.783; P=0.001). Collectively, our study demonstrated that PLK4 was remarkably downregulated in HCC and could be served as a potential prognostic marker for patients with this deadly disease.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Lili
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Chris Zhiyi
authors: CZ
authors: Zhang
authors: Muyan
authors: M
authors: Cai
authors: Jia
authors: J
authors: Fu
authors: George Gong
authors: GG
authors: Chen
authors: Jingping
authors: J
authors: Yun
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: C490219:PLK4 protein, human; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases