Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Sep 6, 2020; 8(17): 3774-3785
Published online Sep 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i17.3774
Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate dependent Rac exchange factor 1 is a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma
Yi Cai, Qiao Zheng, De-Jiao Yao
Yi Cai, Qiao Zheng, De-Jiao Yao, Department of Oncology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China
Author contributions: Cai Y and Zheng Q designed the study, data acquisition, data analysis and preparation of the manuscript; Cai Y and Yao DJ revised the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: De-Jiao Yao, MD, Professor, Department of Oncology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No.39 Shi-er-qiao Road, Chengdu 610000, Sichuan Province, China. dejiaoy@163.com
Received: April 10, 2020
Peer-review started: April 10, 2020
First decision: June 8, 2020
Revised: June 15, 2020
Accepted: August 4, 2020
Article in press: August 4, 2020
Published online: September 6, 2020
Processing time: 146 Days and 23.8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate dependent Rac exchange factor 1 (P-Rex1) is regarded a critical regulator in the inflammation response, and a recent study showed the significance of P-Rex1 in cancers.

Research motivation

P-Rex1 functions as a tumor promoter in many cancers, but the expression and the clinical significance of P-Rex1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are still unknown.

Research objectives

The study aimed to evaluate the potential value of P-Rex1 in the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC.

Research methods

Ninety resected HCC tissues were examined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction to analyze P-Rex1 expression. The correlation between P-Rex1 expression and pathological features was determined. Bioinformatics analysis was applied to validate the results.

Research results

P-Rex1 was highly expressed in liver tumor, and P-Rex1 expression was closely correlated with lymph node invasion, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, distant metastasis, and alpha-fetoprotein levels. P-Rex1 acts as a diagnostic biomarker with a higher area under the curve value, especially in patients with HBV infection. P-Rex1 could also act as a favorable prognostic factor in HCC, even in patients with early stage HCC.

Research conclusions

Our data suggest that P-Rex1 is overexpressed in HCC and is associated with HCC progression. P-Rex1 is a new diagnostic biomarker for HBV-related HCC and is also a favorable prognosis factor for HCC.

Research perspectives

The overexpression of P-Rex1 was confirmed in this study, and P-Rex1 was closely associated with the pathological features of HCC. A positive correlation between P-Rex1 and the risk factors of HCC was also observed, suggesting that P-Rex1 is an important mediator in the development of HCC. Survival analysis showed that P-Rex1 is a favorable prognosis biomarker. Therefore, the overexpression of P-Rex1 in the development of HCC and the effect on cell proliferation, migration or differentiation will be further demonstrated in a future study.