Expression of HIWI in human hepatocellular carcinoma

In this study, the investigation of the expression of HIWI and its protein in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was performed, and the relationships between HIWI expression and the location of HCC metastases were analyzed. Sets of fresh HCC and matched adjacent normal hepatic tissue and paraffin-embedded tissue slides were provided by the hospital hepatology and pathology departments. RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry were performed to detect HIWI mRNA and protein. Correlations between HIWI expression and patient's age, sex, type of tumor, and metastasis location were recorded. HIWI mRNA and protein levels were significantly higher in HCC tissues than in adjacent normal hepatic tissue (P < 0.05). Immunohistochemistry showed positive staining for HIWI in cell cytoplasm; however, the number of HIWI-positive cells in HCC tissue (65.2%; 60/92) was significantly higher than in adjacent normal hepatic tissue (27.2%; 25/92) (P < 0.05). HIWI expression was not correlated with patients' age, gender, tumors' size, and location but correlated with metastasis involving lymph nodes and other remote organs (P < 0.05). HIWI expression is significantly higher in HCC tissue than in adjacent normal hepatic tissue. The results of this study suggest that HIWI may have a crucial role in HCC carcinogenesis and could serve as a potential biomarker or treatment target for HCC.