Heng Wang, Wei Fei, Li Wanhai, Li Qian, Xiong Dan-Lei, Ma Ying-Yu, Zhang Da-Hong
Graduate Department, Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, China.
Department of Urology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
Neoplasma. 2021 Mar;68(2):416-422. doi: 10.4149/neo_2020_201008N1061. Epub 2021 Jan 14.
The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of vesicular amine transporter 1 (VAT1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its prognostic value and to analyze the relationship between VAT1 expression and clinicopathological features of HCC. First, several public databases, including Ualcan, GEPIA, and Oncomine, were used to analyze the expression of VAT1 in HCC and normal liver tissue. Next, 330 HCC and 190 normal liver samples were stained by immunohistochemistry and scored. Finally, we evaluated the clinical significance of VAT1 as a prognostic factor according to the clinicopathological characteristics. We observed that the expression level of VAT1 in HCC samples was significantly higher than that in normal liver tissues, and the high expression of VAT1 protein in HCC was significantly correlated with patient age, tumor size, number of tumors, and vascular metastasis (p<0.05). The average survival time of HCC patients with high expression of VAT1 was significantly lower than that of patients with low expression of VAT1. Further analysis demonstrated that VAT1 expression was significantly correlated with the length of overall survival in HCC patients. In conclusion, VAT1 may have an essential function in the progression of HCC, and the level of its expression may effectively predict the invasion and prognosis of HCC. Moreover, the combination of information contained in public databases and the results of the analysis of clinical samples can help us to understand better the mechanism of action of molecular oncogenes in HCC.
本研究的目的是探讨囊泡胺转运体1（VAT1）在肝细胞癌（HCC）中的表达及其预后价值，并分析VAT1表达与HCC临床病理特征之间的关系。首先，利用包括Ualcan、GEPIA和Oncomine在内的几个公共数据库分析VAT1在HCC和正常肝组织中的表达。接下来，对330例HCC和190例正常肝样本进行免疫组织化学染色并评分。最后，根据临床病理特征评估VAT1作为预后因素的临床意义。我们观察到，HCC样本中VAT1的表达水平显著高于正常肝组织，HCC中VAT1蛋白的高表达与患者年龄、肿瘤大小、肿瘤数量和血管转移显著相关（p<0.05）。VAT1高表达的HCC患者的平均生存时间显著低于VAT1低表达的患者。进一步分析表明，VAT1表达与HCC患者的总生存时间显著相关。总之，VAT1可能在HCC的进展中起重要作用，其表达水平可能有效预测HCC的侵袭和预后。此外，公共数据库中包含的信息与临床样本分析结果相结合，有助于我们更好地理解分子癌基因在HCC中的作用机制。
