Prognostic significance of beta-catenin nuclear expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

There have been a few clinical reports about beta-catenin nuclear expression for hepatocellular carcinoma patients. However, the clinical significance of the nuclear expression has not been fully elucidated and remains to be controversial.

We performed immunohistochemical examinations using an anti-beta-catenin monoclonal antibody for 101 hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent curative hepatic resection. Background factors and the disease-free survival were compared between hepatocellular carcinomas with and without beta-catenin nuclear expression. The prognostic factors influencing disease-free survival were examined by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Beta-catenin nuclear expression was judged as positive in 24 (23.8%) and negative in 77 (76.2%). Representative 3 hepatocellular carcinomas with beta-catenin nuclear expression showed the protein accumulation by Western blotting analysis. The clinicopathological analysis proved that vascular invasion was less prevalent in hepatocellular carcinomas with beta-catenin nuclear expression than in those without the expression (p=0.034). Hepatocellular carcinoma patients with beta-catenin nuclear expression had a longer disease-free survival than patients without the expression (p=0.035). Multivariate analysis proved that beta-catenin nuclear expression was selected as one of the independent factors related to disease-free survival (p=0.0054).

Our study demonstrated that beta-catenin nuclear expression is valuable as a prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent hepatic resection.