title: Decreased expression of liver-type fatty acid-binding protein is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to assess liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) expression and its association with clinicopathological features in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  L-FABP mRNA expression in 57 samples of HCC and corresponding adjacent liver tissue and 8 normal liver tissue samples were examined by real-time reverse transcriptase (RT)–PCR analyses. Tissue microarray technique and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to detect the expression of L-FABP in 163 HCCs. The association between L-FABP expression and the clinicopathological factors and prognosis was analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average expression of L-FABP mRNA was 0.233 in the HCC tissues, 1.407 in the peri-carcinoma tissues, and 1.0 in the normal liver tissues. IHC analysis showed that there were 47% (76/163) HCCs exhibited weak or even no immunoreactivity of L-FABP. The L-FABP expression in HCC showed significant associations with preoperative levels of AFP (p=0.039), tumor size (p=0.026), histological grade (p=0.000), differential degree (p=0.000), vascular invasion (p=0.016), capsular invasion (p=0.029) and recurrence (p=0.004). Patients with L-FABP high-expression showed better prognosis than patients with L-FABP low-expression (p=0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  L-FABP was downregulated in HCC and could be served as a promising prognostic marker for HCC patients.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Chuan-Zhong
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jing-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yun-Bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Ai-Min
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015536:Down-Regulation; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C493319:FABP1 protein, human; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger