title: Study of the correlation between H-ras mutation and primary hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between H-ras mutation and primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to describe the role of H-ras mutation in carcinogenesis. Clinical samples of 69 patients were collected and the expression levels of H-ras in HCC and the surrounding normal tissues were examined using HotStarTaq PCR. H-ras mutation was further analyzed using the PCR direct sequencing method. The results showed that H-ras mutation was present in 49 samples (49/69, 71.01%), of which 19 had codon 40 mutated from CTA to CTG and 30 had codon 61 mutated from GGC to AGC. By contrast, only 2 mutations were found in the normal tumor-adjacent tissues. The H-ras mutation rate in the high-risk of metastatic recurrence group was markedly higher than that in the low-risk group (P<0.01). The H-ras mutation rate in patients with metastatic recurrence during postoperative follow-up was also significantly higher than that in patients without metastatic recurrence (P<0.01). Based on the above results, the H-ras mutation frequency in cancer tissues is markedly higher compared with that in normal tissues. H-ras mutation may play an important role in the genesis and development of HCC and may serve as a reliable marker for individual comprehensive therapy in HCC.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Emergency General Surgery and.
authors.forename: Guode
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.forename: Xuexiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Shiguo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong