Clinicopathological Implications of ASAP1 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: The expression of ArfGAP with SH3 domain ankyrin repeat and PH domain 1 (ASAP1) is increased in various types of cancer, showing potential as a prognostic marker. The clinicopathological implications of ASAP1 expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. We thus investigated the clinicopathological significance and prognostic effect of ASAP1 expression in HCC patients.Materials and Methods: ASAP1 expression was assessed in 149 HCC tissue samples using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The associations between ASAP1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. The prognostic effect of ASAP1 expression in patients with HCC was evaluated based on survival analyses and confirmed using a web-based tool.Results: ASAP1 expression was observed in the cytoplasm of tumor cells. High ASAP1 expression was observed in 89 (59.7%) of 149 cases. High ASAP1 expression was significantly associated with male patients (p = 0.018), higher histological grade (p = 0.013), vessel invasion (p = 0.021), and higher stage (p = 0.020). High ASAP1 expression was associated with shorter overall survival (OS; p = 0.041) and recurrence-free survival (RFS; p = 0.008) based on Kaplan-Meier survival analyses. Web-based analysis using Kaplan-Meier (KM) plotter showed high mRNA ASAP1 expression to be associated with short OS (p = 0.001).Conclusion: High ASAP1 expression was associated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics and poor clinical outcomes in patients with HCC. ASAP1 can be considered a prognostic biomarker in HCC patients.

Firefighting, per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and DNA methylation of genes associated with prostate cancer risk

“…ASAP1 codes for ANK repeat and PH domain‐containing protein 1 (ASAP1), which plays a role in a number of different cellular functions, such as protein transportation, membrane trafficking, cell motility, and tumor invasion (Hou et al, 2014). There are several adverse health outcomes associated with increased ASAP1 expression, including melanoma, glioblastoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, ovarian cancer, and bladder cancer (Bang et al, 2022; Hou et al, 2014; Li et al, 2019; Wei et al, 2021; Yang et al, 2017). Additionally, elevated ASAP1 protein is found in metastatic prostate cancer cases (Lin et al, 2008).…”

ASAP1 Expression in Invasive Breast Cancer and Its Prognostic Role

“…Sato et al reported that high expression of ASAP1 protein in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is associated with poor prognosis [ 12 ]. Bang et al reported that high ASAP1 expression is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma [ 13 ]. Lou et al reported that higher expression of ASAP1 and FAK is associated with higher stage, poor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and worse prognosis in the gastric cancer [ 14 ].…”

“…ArfGAP with SH3 domain, ankyrin repeat, and PH domain 1 (ASAP1) protein modulates various functions in cells such as receptor recycling, vesicle formation, and cell motility by interacting with a diverse range of proteins in the ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) family [ 8 ]. Previous studies have reported that the increased expression of ASAP1 promotes invasiveness and metastasis in cancer [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. The majority of these studies also have reported that the increased expression of ASAP1 is associated with poor prognosis in various types of cancer.…”

“…Increased ASAP1 expression enhanced tumor cell invasiveness and metastasis in colorectal cancer [ 9 ] and was associated with metastasis in prostate cancer [ 10 ]. Increased expression of ASAP1 was correlated with poor prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma [ 11 , 12 ], hepatocellular carcinoma [ 13 ], gastric cancer [ 14 ], epithelial ovarian cancer [ 15 ], clear cell renal cell carcinoma [ 16 ], and pancreatic cancer [ 17 ].…”