Overexpression of LAMC1 predicts poor prognosis and enhances tumor cell invasion and migration in hepatocellular carcinoma.

LAMC1 encodes an extracellular matrix protein, laminin γ1 chain, which is involved in several biological and pathological processes including tissue development, tumor cell invasion and metastasis. In present study, we demonstrated that both LAMC1 protein and mRNA levels were elevated in HCC tissue samples compared with non-cancerous tissue samples according to western blot analyses, immunohistochemistry (IHC) and microarray. Moreover, high LAMC1 expression was positively correlated with incomplete encapsulation (=0.014), poor overall (OS, =0.02) and disease-free survival (DFS, =0.014). Using cell lines, we demonstrated that the levels of LAMC1 mRNA and protein were significantly higher in HCC cell lines than that in LO2 cell line. After the expression of LAMC1 was depressed by siRNA technique, the cell proliferation, migration and invasion were depressed significantly. Taken together, these data suggest that LAMC1 is enriched in HCC; overexpression of LAMC1 predicts poor prognosis, and enhances tumor cell invasion and migration. LAMC1 might be a new biomarker predictive of HCC prognosis and might also be a useful treatment target.