Abstract
Aim: To explore the prognostic value of clusterin (CLU) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with oxaliplatin (OXA).Methods: Relative expression of plasma CLU mRNA was examined via fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and CLU protein level in tissue samples was detected through immunohistochemistry. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between CLU mRNA expression and clinical features of HCC patients treated with OXA. Kaplan–Meier method was performed to assess overall survival for the patients, and prognostic value of CLU in HCC patients was estimated via Cox regression analysis.Results: CLU expression in plasma and tissue specimens was significantly higher among HCC patients than in non-malignant controls (P < 0.001 for both). Moreover, elevated CLU mRNA was closely related to tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and response to OXA (P < 0.05). HCC patients with high CLU expression showed poor response to OXA. In addition, low CLU levels predicted long overall survival time among the study subjects (20.8 vs. 36.6 months, P < 0.001). CLU was an independent prognostic indicator for HCC patients treated with OXA (HR = 2.587, 95%CI = 1.749–3.828, P < 0.001).Conclusion: CLU may be a novel prognostic marker for HCC patients treated with OXA.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), accounting for 70–85% of all liver cancer cases, stands for a leading reason of tumor-relevant deaths around the world [1,2]
Relative expression of CLU mRNA in patients with HCC was determined via quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR)
The results demonstrated that CLU mRNA and protein levels significantly increased in HCC tissues compared with non-malignant tissues
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), accounting for 70–85% of all liver cancer cases, stands for a leading reason of tumor-relevant deaths around the world [1,2]. Transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and systemic chemotherapy represent main treatments for HCC [4]. Oxaliplatin (OXA), a third-generation platinum-derived chemotherapeutic agent, induces cell death through platinum-DNA adducts, and is more effective in inhibiting DNA replication than other platinum compounds [5,6]. OXA-based chemotherapy is widely used in treating several cancers, such as gastric cancer [7], colorectal cancer [8] and HCC [9]. Clinical outcomes among HCC cases treated with OXA are varied, due to drug resistance. Finding key factors denoting HCC cases’ sensitivity to OXA will improve therapeutic effect of chemotherapeutic agents
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