Expression Of RhoE In Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Significance

AIM:With the research development in oncology,more and more evidences have established that the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)display multiple genetic alterations including activation of oncogenes,inactivation of tumor suppressor genes,loss of heterozygonisity(LOH)in chromosomes,errors in DNA replication and so on.It has been found that mutation or amplification of oncogenes,such as ras, c-erbB2,c-fos and c-myc and inactivation of tumour suppressor genes,such as p53,RB,pl6 and so on are related to the pathogenesis of HCC.As one of the small GTPase super family,Rho proteins are important signal transduction molecular of cells.RhoGTPases play significant roles in cell such as reconstruction of the actinal cytoskeleton,intercellular adhesion,cell cycle progression and so on.There are more than 20 members in this family,for example,RhoA,RhoB,Cdc42,Rac1,etc.Among these proteins,RhoE is a special member.In order to study the relationship between RhoE and the occurrence and development of HCC,we use immunohistochemistry and western blot to investigate the expression and clinical significance of RhoE in tumoral specimens from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods:Clinical tissue samples including 106 HCC,corresponding 48 paraneoplastic tissues and 60 normal liver tissues were collected with detailed clinical data and pathological sections were made.Immunohistochemistry, western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)were used to measure the RhoE expression of protein or mRNA.Result:Immunohistochemistry results showed that the positive expression of RhoE was significantly lower in HCC(78%,83/106)as compared to normal liver tissues(97%,58/60),P＜0.005.Tissues almost displayed cytoplasmic staining.Expression of RhoE correlation with the differentiation degree of HCC(P＜0.005),but was not related with patients' age,gender,size of tumor, the clinical TNM stage,serum AFP level.These above results were confirmed by western blot and RT-PCR analysis.Conclusion:RhoE had lower expression in hepatocellular carcinoma.It might play a negative role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.With the recent research,RhoE may be a tumour suppressor gene.Therefore,the study of RhoE may be provide the academic foundation on genetherapy of HCC.