Down-Regulation Of Hopx Associates With Poor Prognosis Of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

HOPX has been reported to function as tumor suppressor in a variety of cancers. However, the role of HOPX is still unknown in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we investigated the expression of HOPX aiming to define their prognostic significance in HCC. A total of 198 patients were included in this study and immunohistochemically evaluated for HOPX. Quantitative real time PCR(qRT-PCR) and western blot were performed to assess HOPX expression in HCC cell lines as well as 10 HCC tissues with paired non-cancerous tissues. Down-regulation of HOPX was found in HCC cell lines and HCC tissues by qRT-PCR and western blot. Patients with low HOPX expression had significantly poorer prognosis than those with high expression. Multivariate analysis identified HOPX as an independent predictor for the outcome of HCC patients. In addition, patients with lower HOPX expression exhibited more aggressive clinicopathologic features, including larger tumor size, more advanced stage and vascular invasion. HOPX may performed as a tumor suppressor in HCC. Our data suggested for the first time that HOPX status may correlate with the development of HCC and predict poor prognosis of these patients, providing rationale for developing a novel target therapy against HCC.