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Glypican-3, a novel prognostic marker of hepatocellular cancer, is related with postoperative metastasis and recurrence in hepatocellular cancer patients

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Abstract

Metastasis/recurrence has been the most fundamental characteristic of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and the ultimate cause of most HCC-related deaths. However, there are still a limited number of reliable tumor markers that can be used to predict the possibility of metastasis/recurrence in an HCC patient after operation. Recently, much evidence has shown that glypican-3 (GPC3) can be a useful tool to identify the early development of HCC, but little research has been done to test its usefulness as a prognostic marker related to post-operative metastasis/recurrence in HCC patients. In this study, the expression of GPC3 and its relationship with clinicopathological factors were determined by immunohistochemical analysis in 61 primary HCC patients. The potential prognostic value of GPC3 was investigated by comparing the survival time between HCC patients with high and low GPC3 expression. The results demonstrated that GPC3 expression was closely related with metastasis/recurrence in an HCC patient who can receive the operation. The risk of metastasis/recurrence after surgery in an HCC patient with high GPC3 expression was increased to 3.214 as compared to that of an HCC patient with low GPC3 expression. Survival analysis showed that HCC patients with high GPC3 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival time than HCC patients with low GPC3 expression (P = 0.003). Further, multivariate analysis showed that GPC3 expression was a significant, independent prognostic parameter (P = 0.030) for HCC patients. Overall, the study indicates that GPC3 might be a valuable marker closely related with prognosis and post-operative metastasis/recurrence in HCC patients.

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Acknowledgment

This work was grant sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China; Grant numbers: 30801380. Guangdong Provincal Science Foundation; Grant numbers: 10451001002005047, 8451051501001344.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Su Ning, Chen Bin, Huang Na, Shen Peng, Zheng Da-yong & Luo Rong-cheng

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Ding Yi & Ye Xiang-hua

  3. Department of Clinical Laboratory, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Zeng Fang-yin

  4. Department of Oncology, Guangzhou Chest Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Su Ning

  5. General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command of PLA, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Chen Bin

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  1. Su Ning
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  2. Chen Bin
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  3. Huang Na
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  4. Shen Peng
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Correspondence to Zheng Da-yong or Luo Rong-cheng.

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Su Ning and Chen Bin contributed equally to this work.

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Ning, S., Bin, C., Na, H. et al. Glypican-3, a novel prognostic marker of hepatocellular cancer, is related with postoperative metastasis and recurrence in hepatocellular cancer patients. Mol Biol Rep 39, 351–357 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-0745-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-0745-y

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