Research on correlations of magnetic resonance imaging features and pathological changes in liver cancer with Beclin1 expression.

OBJECTIVE

Our study aims to explore the correlations of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features and pathological changes in liver cancer with the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein expression of Beclin1.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The mRNA and protein expression levels of Beclin1 in 42 cases of liver cancer and para-carcinoma tissues from liver cancer patients were detected via fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) and immunohistochemistry, and its correlations with the clinicopathological characteristics and MRI features were analyzed.

RESULTS

The mRNA expression of Beclin1 in liver cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in para-carcinoma tissues, and statistical correlation between pathological grade and mass size of liver cancer was found (p < 0.05). The immunohistochemical results revealed that the Beclin1 positive expression was mainly located in the cytoplasm, and the level was significantly increased compared with that in corresponding para-carcinoma tissues (p < 0.05). The MRI showed that both Min-apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and Mean-ADC in Beclin1 high-expression group were significantly lower than those in Beclin1 low-expression group.

CONCLUSIONS

The Beclin1 expression plays an important role in the occurrence and development of liver cancer. MRI shows significant correlation with the level of Beclin1 in liver cancer, which provides certain value in the evaluation of the biological behaviors and prognosis of liver cancer.