Enhanced expression of the protein kinase substrate p36 in human hepatocellular carcinoma

A basic phosphoprotein defined by a monoclonal antibody named AF5 was found to be highly abundant in human hepatocellular carcinoma by Western immunoblotting. Under the same conditions, the levels of this phosphoprotein were low or undetectable in normal liver extracts. The AF5 antibody was used to screen a cDNA expression library of a human hepatoma cell line named FOCUS. A 960-base-pair cDNA was isolated and found to be a partial cDNA encoding the human protein-tyrosine kinase substrate p36, also known as lipocortin II. p36 expression was highly abundant in hepatocellular carcinomas at both the transcript and protein levels. Its expression was not induced significantly during rat liver regeneration following a partial hepatectomy. These results suggest that the induction of p36 expression is associated with malignant transformation of hepatocytes. p36 was previously shown to be phosphorylated upon transformation of normal fibroblasts by retroviral oncogenes without significant modulation of expression. We report here the initial description of the association of increased p36 expression with malignant transformation.