Brief Articles
Copyright ©2009 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2009; 15(38): 4844-4848
Published online Oct 14, 2009. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.4844
Decreased expression of Neurensin-2 correlates with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma
Hai-Qing Ma, Xiao-Ting Liang, Jing-Jing Zhao, Hui Wang, Jian-Cong Sun, Yi-Bing Chen, Ke Pan, Jian-Chuan Xia
Hai-Qing Ma, Xiao-Ting Liang, Jing-Jing Zhao, Hui Wang, Jian-Cong Sun, Yi-Bing Chen, Ke Pan, Jian-Chuan Xia, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China and Department of Experimental Research, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Xia JC, Ma HQ and Pan K designed the experiments; Ma HQ, Liang XT and Zhao JJ performed the experiments; Ma HQ, Wang H and Sun JC analyzed the data; Ma HQ wrote the paper; Chen YB revised the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Jian-Chuan Xia, MD, PhD, Professor, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China and Department of Experimental Research, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong Province, China. xiajch@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-20-87343173 Fax: +86-20-87343392
Received: July 17, 2009
Revised: August 24, 2009
Accepted: August 31, 2009
Published online: October 14, 2009
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the expression of Neurensin-2 (NRSN2) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its prognostic values in predicting survival.

METHODS: The expression and prognostic significance of NRSN2 in HCC was examined by performing immunohistochemical analysis using a total of 110 HCC clinical tissue samples, and Western blotting analysis to further confirm the result.

RESULTS: Decreased NRSN2 expression was shown in 70.9% cases. Loss of NRSN2 expression in HCC was significantly related to tumor size (P = 0.006). Larger tumor size was related to negative expression of NRSN2. Patients showing negative NRSN2 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival than those with positive expression (P = 0.008). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that NRSN2 expression level was an independent factor of survival (P = 0.013). Western blotting analysis further confirmed decreased expression of NRSN2 in tumor tissues compared with non-tumorous tissues.

CONCLUSION: Our study indicated that NRSN2 could be a tumor suppressor gene for HCC and a candidate biomarker for long-term survival in HCC.

Keywords: Neurensin-2; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Expression; Immunohistochemical analysis; Prognosis