Relationship Between REIC Gene Expression And Hepatocellular Cancer

Purpose To study the relationship between REIC gene expression and hepatocellular cancer. Method Hepatocellular cancer and its adjacent tissues were collected from 50 cases of hepatocellular cancer, another 3 cases of normal hepatic tissue were used as control, the expression mRNA of REIC gene was determined by real-time quantitative PCR analysis. Result The level of REIC gene expression in hepatocellular cancer tissues(mean±s,5.32±0.67) is markedly less than the level in paracancer tissues(6.45±0.78) and normal hepatic tissue(6.78±0.83), the difference is significant(P<0.01). The reduced expression of REIC gene was found to be significantly correlated with patient's sex, histological grade and metastasis status. REIC gene expression was significantly lower in males(4.90±0.56) than in females(6.01±0.78). The poorer the histological grade on hepatocelluar cancer became, the lower the REIC gene expression level tended to be . Conclusion This study indicated that the reduced expression ofREIC gene was correlated with the occurrence and development of hepatocellular cancer, and may be regarded as a novel tumor suppressive gene for hepatocellular cancer.