Clinical significance of CMTM4 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

CMTM4 is the most conserved member of chemokine-like factor (CKLF)-like MARVEL transmembrane domain-containing (CMTM) family on chromosome 16q22.1, a locus that harbors a number of tumor-suppressor genes. In previous studies, CMTM4 was reported to be downregulated and exhibited tumor-suppressor activities by regulating cell growth and cell cycle in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. However, its roles in tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain poorly studied. This study first investigated the expression of CMTM4 in HCC, and then examined the association between the expression of CMTM4 with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients. It was found that CMTM4 was downregulated in HCC tissues, compared with matched adjacent nontumor tissues, as detected by immunohistochemistry. In addition, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the negative expression of CMTM4 was associated with decreased overall survival rates in patients with HCC. The results of this study suggest CMTM4 plays a role as a tumor suppressor in HCC and CMTM4 negative expression is a risk factor for poor prognosis of HCC.