Expression and clinical significance of extracellular matrix protein 1 in primary liver cancer

Abstract

Objective To detect the expression of extracellular matrix protein 1 ( ECM1 ) in primary liver cancer tissues, and explore its clinical significance in liver cancer metastasis. Methods Sixty cases of primary liver cancer tissues and adjacent tissues from 60 patients who were admitted to the Affiliated Provincial Hospital of Anhui Medical University from June 2008 to December 2009 were collected, and nine cases of normal liver tissues were collected from patients with liver trauma as control. The expression of ECM1 and the relationship between ECM1 and clinicopathological features of liver cancer were detected and analyzed using the immunohistochemistry and Western blot. All data were analyzed using the chi-square test, Fisher exact test and t test. Results ECM1 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of liver cells. The positive expression rate of ECM1 in liver cancer tissues was 73%, which was significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues (20%) and normal liver tissues (22%)( x2 = 34.286, 7. 044, P ＜ 0.05 ). The expression of ECM1 was correlated with liver cancer metastasis and TNM stages ( x2 = 5. 455, 4.275, P ＜ 0.05), while not with sex, age, size, capsule and differentiation of the tumor,alpha fetoprotein level and the expression of hepatitis B surface antigen ( x2 = 2. 841, 0. 014, 0. 000, 0. 734,0.075, 0.000, 0.031, P＞0.05). The result of Western blot indicated that the relative content of ECM1 in the liver cancer tissues was 25.49 ± 4.61, which was significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues (3.00 ±0.37) and normal liver tissues (2.94 ± 0.21 ) ( t = 31. 962, 31. 699, P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusions The expression of ECM1 in liver cancer tissues is higher than those in adjacent and normal liver tissues, and ECM1 expression is correlated with metastasis of liver cancer and TNM stages, which indicate that ECM1 may play a role in the metastasis of liver cancer, and it could be used as an indicator for liver cancer metastasis. Key words: Liver neoplasms; Extracellular matrix protein 1; Metastasis