title: Stanniocalcin 2 expression predicts poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that the expression level of stanniocalcin 2 (STC2) is associated with tumor progression. However, to date, the association between STC2 and clinicopathological factors in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been investigated. The clinical significance of STC2 was investigated in 30 fresh HCC samples using western blot analysis and in 240 HCC tissues using immunohistochemical analysis. The level of STC2 in cancerous tissue was higher than in the matched non-cancerous tissues. Using immunohistochemistry, the STC2-positive group exhibited a higher incidence of lymph node metastasis and venous invasion compared with the STC2-negative group. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed that the positive expression of STC2 correlated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival of HCC patients (P<0.01). STC2 expression was observed to be an independent prognostic factor for OS in HCC patients by multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 2.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-5.89; P=0.013). These data suggest that STC2 expression may be a useful indicator of poor prognosis in HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Hai
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Guang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cheng-Kun
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Hou
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Rong
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Xue
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Guo-Zhe
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Xian
keywords: biomarker; hepatocellular carcinoma; prognosis; stanniocalcin 2