title: Expression and prognostic significance of contactin 1 in human hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  CNTN1, a member of the CNTN family of neural cell-recognition molecules, is involved in tumor invasion and metastasis. Although the expression of CNTN1 has been reported in several human malignancies, the expression of CNTN1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its correlation with prognosis remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of CNTN1 and determine the clinicopathological parameters and prognostic value of CNTN1 in HCC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative real-time polymerase chain-reaction and Western blotting assays were performed to assess messenger RNA and protein levels of CNTN1 in 20 matched HCC specimens. The clinical and prognostic significance of CNTN1 in 90 cases of HCC was determined by immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CNTN1 expression was higher in HCC compared to the expression found in adjacent tissues at both messenger RNA and protein levels (P<0.01). Notably, immunohistochemical results revealed that CNTN1 expression was significantly higher in HCC compared to adjacent tissues (54.4% vs 12.2%, P=0.01). Furthermore, positive CNTN1 expression was associated with tumor size, tumor capsulae, status of metastasis, and tumor-node-metastasis stage. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that high CNTN1 was correlated with reduced overall survival (OS) rate (P<0.001) and disease-free survival (DFS) rate (P=0.001). Multivariate analysis identified CNTN1 as an independent poor prognostic factor of OS and DFS in HCC patients (P=0.007 and P=0.002, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that CNTN1 could play an important role in HCC and serve as an independent unfavorable prognostic factor for OS and DFS and a potential therapeutic target for HCC.
authors: Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People's Republic of China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Guang-Yao
authors: GY
authors: Li
authors: Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People's Republic of China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Mei
authors: M
authors: Huang
authors: Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People's Republic of China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Ting-Ting
authors: TT
authors: Pan
authors: Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Provincial Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People's Republic of China; Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors: Wei-Dong
authors: WD
authors: Jia
keywords: CNTN1; expression; hepatocellular carcinoma; immunohis-tochemistry; prognosis