Markers of Hippo-Pathway Activity in Tumor Forming Liver Lesions

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal cancer worldwide. Recently, the hippo signaling pathway has been implicated in tumorigenesis of HCC and other malignant tumors. Aim of the study was therefore to evaluate the hippo signaling pathway activity and its clinico-pathological associations and crosstalk in different tumor forming hepatocellular lesions (HCC, hepatocellular adenoma (HCA), focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and cirrhosis). A tissue micro array (TMA) from paired human tumorous and non-tumorous (NT) tissue samples of HCC (n = 92), HCA (n = 25), FNH (n = 28) and cirrhosis (n = 28; no NT) was constructed. The hippo-pathway related proteins of MST1/2, (nuclear(n)/cytoplasmic(c)) YAP and (phospho(p)) TAZ and interactors as Glypican3, RASSF1a, pAKT, pERK and pP70S6K were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Proliferation was assessed by Ki67-IHC and apoptosis by TUNEL-technique. MST1/2- and nYAP-immunoreactivity was associated with lymph node status (p = 0.048, p = 0.001), higher grading (p = 0.012, p = 0.24) and unfavorable relapse-free survival (p = 0.004, p = 0.003). MST1/2, c/nYAP and pTAZ were significantly different between HCC/NT (p < 0.001, p = 0.029, p < 0.001, p < 0.001) and mono-/polyclonal hepatocellular lesions (HCC/HCA vs. FNH/cirrhosis; all p ≤ 0.001). Phospho-TAZ-negativity and nYAP-positivity were almost exclusively and MST1/2 exclusively detected in HCC. MST1/2 correlated with pP70S6K (p = 0.002), pERK (p = 0.042), RASSF1a-IRS (p = 0.002) and GPC3 (p < 0.001) and nYAP with GPC3 (p = 0.025), higher Ki67-indices (p = 0.016) and lower apoptosis rate (p = 0.078). MST1/2 and nYAP are unfavorable prognostic markers associated with an aggressive tumor-phenotype in HCC. Positive nYAP- and negative pTAZ-immunostaining were strong indicators of a monoclonal hepatocellular lesion. The unexpected findings for MST1/2 remain to be elucidated.