Effect of interventional embolotherapy on FHIT and p16 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Abstract

Effects of interventional embolotherapy on the expression of fragile histidine triad (FHIT) and p16 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients were investigated. Patients with primary HCC who were definitely diagnosed and treated in the Department of Gastroenterology in Qingdao Central Hospital from March 2014 to March 2016 were selected, and they underwent interventional embolotherapy. HCC and cancer-adjacent tissues of the patients were harvested for immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between the expression levels of FHIT and p16 was analyzed at the gene and protein level. Clinical data were collected, and whether they were correlated with the expression of FHIT and p16 was investigated. The expression levels of FHIT and p16 in primary HCC tissues were remarkably lower than that in cancer-adjacent tissues (P<0.05). In HCC tissues, FHIT expression was obviously positively correlated with p16 expression (Spearman's correlation coefficient, r=0.308; P=0.025). FHIT was related to HCC tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging, the differentiation degree in Edmondson-Steiner grading, lymph node metastasis and portal vein thrombosis (P<0.05 in all comparisons), whereas, p16 was associated with tumor size and the differentiation degree in Edmondson-Steiner grading (P<0.05 in all comparisons). The expression of FHIT and p16 genes and proteins in HCC tissues were obviously lower than those in cancer-adjacent tissues (P<0.05 in all comparisons). FHIT and p16 genes, as tumor suppressor genes, inhibit the proliferation of HCC, and there is a positive correlation between them. The proteins of the FHIT and p16 can be used as new indicators for clinical detection, thus providing a new method for clinical diagnosis.

Gene Expression Characteristics of Liver Tissue Reveal the Underlying Pathogenesis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…According to the above-mentioned partial pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma, scientists and medical personnel from all over the world are actively exploring corresponding treatments and personalized care. In the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, scientists such as Xu et al pointed out that FHIT and p16 as tumor suppressor genes can effectively inhibit the proliferation of HCC, which can be used as a new indicator for clinical detection, providing an original method for clinical diagnosis [ 20 ]. The circular RNA (circRNA) hsa_circ_0079299 is considered to be overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma, inhibiting tumor growth in vitro and in vivo and delaying cell cycle progression.…”