Expression Of Pituitary Homeobox 1 Gene In Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Its Clinicopathological Significance

Aim:To investigate the expression of pituitary homeobox 1 gene(PITX1) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinicopathological significance.Methods:Tissues from 30 cases of HCC were obtained from the patients who underwent surgery for HCC at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology between April 2008 and December 2008. Tissues were stored at -80℃for RNA and protein extraction. PITX1 mRNA and protein in cancerous tissues and their adjacent non-cancerous tissues were evaluated through semi-quantitative RT-PCR and western blot. According to different clinical characteristics, cancerous samples were divided into different groups. SPSS for Windows version 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t-test. P values < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results:The PITX1 expression at both mRNA and protein level in para-carcinoma tissues was higher than that in the cancerous tissues from 30 HCC patients(Both p < 0.01); The PITX1 expression decreased in the well differentiated cancerous tissues compared with 30 para-cancerous tissues (Both p < 0.05), and was further reduced in poorly differentiated tissues, compared with either para-carcinoma tissues or well differentiated tissues(Both p < 0.05); Expression of PITX1 in high AFP group(serum AFP≥400μg/L) was significantly lower than that in low AFP group(Serum AFP < 400μg/L)(Both p < 0.05).Conclusions:PITX1 is a new candidate tumor suppressor gene in HCC, PITX1 down-regulation, being a key molecular event during oncogenesis, plays a key role in differentiation of HCC. So it may be very important to examine PITX1 expression for prevention and diagnosis of HCC. PITX1 may be a new target of gene therapy for HCC, which may provide for a new meaningful clinical method in HCC.