Aim: To observe the expression of Fbxw7 and explore its correlation with cell proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods: The expression of Fbxw7 in paired tumor and tumor-adjacent normal tissues from 40 patients with HCC were assessed using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The expression level of Fbxw7 mRNA in normal liver cell line (LO2) and HCC cell lines (Hep3B and SMMC-7721) were detected by real-time RT-PCR. Colony formation assay and tumor xenograft assay were performed in different cell lines with different Fbxw7 expression respectively to investigate the ability of cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo.
Results: The expression of Fbxw7 at both mRNA and protein levels in HCC tissues were significantly down-regulated compared to tumor-adjacent normal tissues (P<0.05). Down-regulation of Fbxw7 was found apparently associated with high Edmonson-Steiner classification and advanced TNM stage (P<0.05). The expression of Fbxw7 mRNA in LO2 was significantly higher than that in Hep3B or SMMC-7721 (P<0.05). Cell lines with less Fbxw7 expression had not only more colonies in colony formation assay (P<0.05), but also bigger xenografts in vitro (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The low expression of Fbxw7 correlates with the poor clinicopathological characteristics and cell proliferation of HCC.