p27 Is a Critical Prognostic Biomarker in Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Yasunobu Matsuda¹  Toshifumi Wakai²  Yuki Hirose²  Mami Osawa³  Shun Fujimaki¹ 

[1] Department of Medical Technology, Niigata University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 2-746 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-Ku, Niigata 951-8518, Japan; E-Mail:;Division of Digestive and General Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-Ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan; E-Mails:;Department of Pediatric Surgery, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-Ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan; E-Mails:

关键词: p27;    nonalcoholic steatohepatitis;    hepatocellular carcinoma;    prognosis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms141223499

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a recently identified chronic liver disease, which progresses to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). As the number of patients studied to date has been limited, clinically useful prognostic biomarkers of NASH-related HCC have not been available. In this study, we investigated the status of a cell-cycle regulator, p27, in NASH-related HCC. p27 has been regarded as a prognostic factor in various types of cancer patients. A total of 22 cases with NASH-related HCC were analyzed for p27 protein expression, and phosphorylation at threonine 157 (T157) and serine 10 (S10) by immunohistochemical analysis. The correlation of p27 with tumor characteristics, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival was analyzed. p27 expression was decreased in 13 HCCs (59%), and was significantly correlated with enlarged tumor size (p = 0.01) and increased cell proliferation (p < 0.01). Phospho-p27 at T157 and S10 was detected in four (18%) and seven (32%) cases, respectively, and patients positive for phospho-p27 (S10) showed reduced DFS (hazard ratio 7.623, p = 0.016) by univariate analysis. Further studies with more patients are required to verify the usefulness of p27 as a biomarker for predicting tumor recurrence in NASH patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland