Expression of ZNF207 in hepatocellular carcinoma and its significance

Abstract

To investigate the expression of zinc finger protein 207 (ZNF207) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues, and analyze the correlation of ZNF207 with clinicopathological factors and HCC patients' survival. Methods: Real-time PCR was used to detect ZNF207 mRNA expression in 10 paired fresh HCC and adjacent non-tumor liver tissue samples. Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis was used to detect ZNF207 protein expression in 135 cases of randomly selected paraffin-embedded HCC tissues. The correlation of ZNF207 expression with clinicopathological factors and survival of HCC was analyzed. Results: The ZNF207 mRNA expression level in HCC was significantly higher than that in the adjacent non-tumor liver tissue (P<0.01). IHC results showed that ZNF207 protein level was elevated in HCC tissues and ZNF207 expression was correlated with cirrhosis, nodule number, tumor capsule, vascular invasion, and TNM stage (P<0.05). Survival analysis showed that patients with high ZNF207 expression had poorer overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) than those with the low ZNF207 expression (P<0.01), and ZNF207 was an independent risk factor for OS and DFS of HCC (P<0.05). Conclusion: ZNF207 expression is elevated in HCC and associated with adverse clinicopathological factors, indicating poor prognosis for HCC.