Objective: To investigate the expression of apoptosis arrestin PED/PEA-15 and XIAP in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explore their relationship with clinicopathological factors of HCC.
Methods: The mRNA expressions of PED/PEA-15 and XIAP genes were detected by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) in resected liver tumor tissues and corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues from 40 HCC patients and normal liver tissues from 12 patients with benign lesions. Their protein levels were detected by Western blot.
Results: The mRNA expressions of PED/PEA-15 and XIAP genes and their proteins were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues and normal tissues (0.636 +/- 0.061, 0.352 +/- 0.068, 0.179 +/- 0.036; 0.579 +/- 0.090, 0.344 +/- 0.084, 0.184 +/- 0.038) (P < 0.01). The mRNA levels of PED/PEA-15 and XIAP genes and their protein levels were significantly associated with the pathological grade and clinical stage of HCC (P < 0.05). However there was not a significant correlation with such clinicopathological features as age, gender, size of tumor, tumor load, metastasis and recurrence (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: The expressions of apoptosis arrestin PED/PEA-15 and XIAP are elevated in HCC as compared with adjacent tissues and normal tissues. Thus it may serve as both a reference indicator for biological behaviors of HCC and a new target for gene therapy.