Clinicopathological significance of RASSF1A reduced expression and hypermethylation in hepatocellular carcinoma

摘要

PurposeProtein downregulation and hypermethylation of Ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A) has been recognized as an important early event in different classes of carcinogenesis, but clinicopathological significance of RASSF1A protein expression and methylation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unknown. The aim of the study was to investigate the expression of RASSF1A protein and methylation in HCC and their clinical significance.MethodsImmunohistochemistry was employed to detect the expression of RASSF1A proteins in liver tissue microarrays. Aberrant promoter hypermethylation of RASSF1A was investigated in DNA from HCC, matching noncancerous tissues and serum of 35 HCC patients by methylation-specific PCR.ResultsRASSF1A protein expression in HCC was significantly lower than that in noncancerous (p?=?0.015) and paracancerous tissues (p?=?0.017). In addition, reduced RASSF1A protein expression is related to TNM stage, metastasis, α-fetoprotein, portal vein embolus, capsular infiltration, and multiple tumor nodes. Furthermore, RASSF1A promoter methylation in HCC was significantly higher than that in noncancerous liver tissues (p?