P48 as a prognosis predictor for postoperative interferon-alpha adjunctive therapy in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To study the relationship between P48 expression and the efficacy of postoperative INF-α therapy in patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC ). Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of P48 in 103 patients undergoing postoperative INF-α treatment for 18 months. The relations between clinicopathological characteristics, prognosis and P48 expression were analyzed. Results P48 was negative in 40 patients, positive in 63 patients. The disease-free survival ( DFS) and overall survival (OS) was significantly different between those of negative expression and positive expression. The 1,3,5-year DFS is 51. 90% ,35. 50% ,35. 50% vs 83. 87% ,58. 12% ,44. 29% ,respectively(x2 =5. 766,P =0. 0163) ;the OS is 92. 50% ,69. 69% ,51.04% vs 92. 00% , 83. 48% , 73. 95% , respectively ( x2 = 5. 047 , P = 0. 0247 ). There were not significant differences in clinical findings between the two groups, including age, sex, HBeAg, α-fetoprotein, tumor size, tumor number, capsule status, Edmondson's grade and microvessel invasion. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that negative p48 status and multiple tumor foci were an independent risk factor both for DFS and OS. Positive HBeAg status was an independent risk factor for OS. Conclusion P48 status predicts the response of patients with HCC to IFN-α therapy.