title: Prognostic value of increased expression of RACO-1 in patients with hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: RING domain AP-1 coactivator-1 (RACO-1) is a coactivator that links c-Jun to growth factor signaling and is essential for AP-1 function. This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of RACO-1 protein in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China. A total of 136 tissue samples of HBV-related HCC were detected by immunohistochemistry (including 76 patients in training cohort and 60 patients in validation cohort). Correlation between RACO-1 expression and clinicopathologic features of HBV-related HCC was analyzed in both the cohorts. RACO-1 expression was significantly higher in HBV-related HCC tissues than in adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. All the patients were divided into two groups: the low expression group and the high expression group. RACO-1 expression was significantly related to vascular invasion (P=0.021), tumor numbers (P=0.046), International Union for Cancer Control/American Joint Committee on Cancer stage (P=0.006), cirrhosis (P=0.046), capsular (P=0.039), and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage (P=0.041) in training cohort. The validation cohort showed the same results. The high RACO-1 expression was the independent prognostic factor for HBV-related HCC patients in both training cohort and validation cohort. Our data implicate RACO-1 as a novel prognostic marker and a potential therapeutic target for HBV-related HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Shaoxing Second Hospital, Shaoxing.
authors.forename: Jian-Yao
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Zhuzhou Clinical Institute, Central South University School of Medicine, Zhuzhou.
authors.forename: Li-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: BCLC stage; RACO-1; UICC/AJCC stage; cirrhosis; hepatitis B; hepatocellular carcinoma; prognosis; vascular invasion