Astrocyte elevated gene-1 overexpression in human primary gallbladder carcinomas: an unfavorable and independent prognostic factor.

Astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), as an HIV-1 or TNF-α-inducible transcript, is correlated with various aspects of tumor malignancy. However, the status of AEG-1 expression and its clinical significance in human gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated AEG-1 expression in two GBC cell lines (GBC-SD and SGC-996) and GBC tissues by immunohistochemical, Western blot and real-time PCR analysis. We found that AEG-1 was highly expressed in GBC samples (63.4%, 26 of 41) compared with normal gallbladder mucosa (p=0.0003) and highly invasive GBC-SD cell lines at both the protein (p=0.0043) and mRNA levels (p=0.0001), and strongly correlated with differentiation degree (p=0.006), Nevin stage (p=0.0344), Ki-67 expression (p=0.0024) and liver infiltration (p=0.0332) in these patients. Multivariate analysis indicated that AEG-1 overexpression was an independent prognostic marker for GBC patients. Moreover, patients with high AEG-1 levels had shorter survival time (p=0.008). Our results suggest that the AEG-1 protein is a valuable marker of GBC progression and could be a potential therapeutic target.