Decreased expression levels of ELOVL6 indicate poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hui Li,Xianling Wang,Jun Tang,Haibo Zhao,Min Duan

doi:10.3892/ol.2019.10974

Hui Li, Xianling Wang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2019.10974

Copy DOI

Journal: Oncology letters	Publication Date: Oct 9, 2019
Citations: 8	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Jining First People's Hospital

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the expression of elongation of very long-chain fatty acids family member 6 (ELOVL6) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, and to determine its role in the development of HCC. A total of 377 HCC specimens were collected for tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry analyses. The ELOVL6 IHC score for HCC tissues was 0.97±0.71, which was significantly lower than that of the matched adjacent normal tissues (1.32±0.68; P<0.001). Patients with low levels of ELOVL6 expression were older (P=0.014) and possessed larger sized tumors (P=0.039) than patients with high expression levels. Additionally, Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with low ELOVL6 expression levels also had significantly poorer overall (P<0.001) and disease-free (P=0.029) survival times, and a greater probability of recurrence. The tumor size, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, vascular invasion and ELOVL6 expression were all shown to be prognostic variables for overall survival in patients with HCC. Multivariate analysis revealed that vascular invasion (P<0.001), TNM stage (P<0.001) and ELOVL6 expression (P=0.001) were independent prognostic variables for overall survival. In addition, vascular invasion (P=0.032) and ELOVL6 expression (P=0.041) were independent risk factors for disease-free survival, and vascular invasion (P=0.019) and ELOVL6 expression (P=0.045) were independent risk factors associated with HCC recurrence. The present study revealed that in patients with HCC, ELOVL6 expression level was reduced in HCC tissues, and that higher ELOVL6 expression levels correlated with longer survival times. This indicates that ELOVL6 may serves as an independent marker of poor patient outcome.

Highlights

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the liver, with a mortality rate that ranks second globally [1,2]
HCC data (Guichard Liver 2 Data) was downloaded from the Oncomine Database as validation data. These results showed a reduction in ELOVL6 expression level in HCC tissues
The present study confirmed that the expression level of ELOVL6 was decreased in HCC tissues, and that ELOVL6 expression was negatively associated with tumor size

Summary

Introduction

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the liver, with a mortality rate that ranks second globally [1,2]. Investigating the pathogenesis of HCC by identifying abnormally expressed genes or proteins may considerably improve the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The association between abnormal lipid metabolism and tumorigenesis has attracted increasing attention [8,9,10,11]. Previous studies have found that the ELOVL6 gene serves an important role in the development and progression of breast cancer by regulating the metabolism of intracellular lipid components [18,19]. The liver is the primary site of lipid metabolism [22,23], there are currently no reports of the expression and significance of ELOVL6 in HCC, a cancer closely associated with metabolic disorders. The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels of ELOVL6 in human HCC tissues, and to determine the relationship between the expression of ELOVL6 and the prognosis of patients with HCC

Methods

Results

Conclusion