title: Expression of Yes-associated protein in liver cancer and its correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis of liver cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the expression of Yes-associated protein (YAP) in liver cancer and its correlation with clinicopathological features and prognosis of liver cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 95 patients receiving surgery due to liver cancer were recruited.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 95 liver cancers, YAP expression was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues. In addition, of liver cancers, 14.7% was negative for YAP (14/95), 29.5% (28/95) weakly positive, 21.1% (20/95) positive and 34.7% (33/95) strong positive, and low expression and high expression were observed in 44.2% (42/95) and 55.8% (53/95) of liver cancers, respectively. Of adjacent normal tissues, 13.7% (13/95) were negative or weakly positive for YAP. The mean survival time of patients with high YAP expression was significantly longer than that of patients with low YAP expression (Log-rank = 9.206, P < 0.01). Univariate analysis showed portal vein thrombosis (P < 0.01), metastasis (P < 0.01), American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging (AJCC) stage (P < 0.01), alpha fetoprotein (AFP) (P < 0.01) and high YAP expression (P < 0.01) were factors affecting the overall survival of liver cancer patients. However, multivariate analysis showed metastasis (P < 0.01) and high YAP expression (P < 0.01) were independent risk factors of overall survival of liver cancer patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  YAP expression increases significantly in liver cancer and it may be involved in the occurrence and development of liver cancer. YAP expression is an independent risk factor affecting the overall survival of liver cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University Shanghai 200003, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang College of TCM Guiyang 550001, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Xin
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Tang
keywords: Liver cancer; YAP; prognosis; survival analysis