The Expressioin And Clinical Significance Of Caveolin-1,RAB5A And CD44v9 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma

【Objective】To investigate the expression of RAB5A,Caveolin-1 and CD44v9 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the relationships between their expressions and the metastasis of HCC, explore the role of the three genes in tumor invasion and metastasis,as well as to evaluate the prognosis of HCC patients with different expression of the three genes after radical hepatectomy by Log-rank test.【Methods】The clinical,pathologic and follow-up information of patients with HCC after radical hepatectomy from 2000 to 2005 in Fujian Provincial Hospital was collected,reviewed as well as evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Log-rank test.The expression of RAB5A,Caveolin-1 and CD44v9 in 60 specimens of HCC, 10 specimens of liver cirrhosis and 10 specimens of the normal group were studied by situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry(SP method) respectively. The relationships between the three genes and the metastasis of HCC were analysed. The relationships among the expression of RAB5A,Caveolin-1 and CD44v9 were analysed and the influence of different expression of the three genes on the prognosis of HCC patients after radical hepatectomy were also evaluated by Log-rank test.【Results】The total cumulative proportion surviving of 1 year,3 years and 5 years in the 60 patients after radical hepatectomy is 76.7%,55.4%and 31.2%,respectively. 2.The expression of RAB5A in HCC (51/60,85%) was higher than that of corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues (21/60,35.0%),the expression of Caveolin-1 protein in HCC (12/60,20%) showed no difference from that of corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues (10/60,16.7%), the expression of CD44v9 in HCC (35/60,58.3%) was higher than that of corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues (17/60,28.3%). 3.The expression level of RAB5A in HCC was positively correlated with the size of tumor (P≦0.05) and tumor emboli in portal vein (P≦0.05);The expression level of Caveolin-1 protein in HCC was negatively correlated with capsular integrity(P≦0.05);The expression level of CD44v9 in HCC was positively correlated with the size of tumor (P≦0.05) and the tumor emboli in portal vein (P≦0.05),but negatively correlated with capsular integrity(P≦0.05)。4.The expression level of RAB5A in HCC was positively correlated with the expression level of CD44v9(P≦0.05), The expression level of Caveolin-1 proten in HCC had no correlation with the other two genes.【Conclusions】1.The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the total cumulative proportion surviving of 3 years and 5 years in the 60 patients after radical hepatectomy is 55.4% and 31.2%.2.RAB5A and CD44v9 may promote the invasion and metastasis of HCC,and could greatly influence the survival rate of the HCC patients after radical hepatectomy;the expression of Caveolin-1 in HCC differed from the normal liver tissues and the corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues but it was negatively correlated with capsular integrity,however ,it had no influence on the survival rate of the HCC patients with radical hepatectomy,besides,in HCC tissues it had a high expression in the proliferated unpaired arteries and sinusoidal cells which could be proofs as HCC could easily achieve hematogenous metastasis.3. RAB5A could influence the expression of CD44v9 by some way ,thus the two of them may play common roles in the invasion and metastasis of HCC.