Li Guang-Yao, Huang Mei, Pan Ting-Ting, Jia Wei-Dong
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.
Onco Targets Ther. 2016 Jan 19;9:387-94. doi: 10.2147/OTT.S97367. eCollection 2016.
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.
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.
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).
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.
CNTN1是神经细胞识别分子CNTN家族的成员，参与肿瘤侵袭和转移。虽然已有报道称CNTN1在多种人类恶性肿瘤中表达，但其在肝细胞癌（HCC）中的表达及其与预后的关系仍不清楚。本研究旨在评估CNTN1的表达，并确定其在HCC患者中的临床病理参数及预后价值。
采用定量实时聚合酶链反应和蛋白质印迹分析，评估20对匹配的HCC标本中CNTN1的信使核糖核酸和蛋白质水平。通过免疫组织化学确定CNTN1在90例HCC中的临床及预后意义。
在信使核糖核酸和蛋白质水平上，HCC中CNTN1的表达均高于相邻组织（P<0.01）。值得注意的是，免疫组织化学结果显示，HCC中CNTN1的表达明显高于相邻组织（54.4%对12.2%，P=0.01）。此外，CNTN1阳性表达与肿瘤大小、肿瘤包膜、转移状态及肿瘤-淋巴结-转移分期相关。Kaplan-Meier生存分析显示，高CNTN1表达与总生存率（OS）降低（P<0.001）和无病生存率（DFS）降低（P=0.001）相关。多因素分析确定CNTN1是HCC患者OS和DFS的独立不良预后因素（分别为P=0.007和P=0.002）。
我们的结果表明，CNTN1可能在HCC中起重要作用，是OS和DFS的独立不良预后因素及HCC的潜在治疗靶点。
