Expression Of Twist In Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Its Clinicopathological Significance

ObjectiveTo study the expression and clinicopathological significance of Twist gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), paracancerous and cirrhosis tissues.MethodsImmunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of the Twist protein in HCC, paraneoplastic and cirrhosis tissues, which was 26, 26 and 10 cases, respectively. Meanwhile, 10 HCC tissues and 10 paraneoplastic tissues were checked by RT-PCR and Western blot. Then, the expression difference and clinicopathological significance of Twist gene were analyzed.ResultsAccording to the results of our studies, we find that the positive rates of the Twist protein in HCC, paraneoplastic and cirrhosis tissues was 84.62 %, 19.23 % and 20 %, respectively. The positive rates of Twist protein in HCC were higher than those in paraneoplastic or cirrhosis tissues (P< 0.05). Compared with paraneoplastic tissues, the mRNA and protein expression of Twist were up - regulated in HCC by 2.52 and 2.13 times, respectively (P <0 .05). Its expression has a closely correlated with tissue differentiation and vessel invasion.ConclusionAs has been mentioned above, we can safely come to the conclusion that Twist has an inappropriate expression in hepatocellular cancer and it may play a important role in the tumorigenesis and progression of HCC.