Role of Faascin protein in proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma.

背景：肌成束蛋白是一种肌动蛋白束蛋白，在片状伪足或丝状伪足形成后可诱导细胞膜突起和细胞运动。Fascin表达与多种肿瘤的进展或预后相关，但Fascin在肝细胞癌（HCC）中的作用仍不清楚。本研究的目的是通过免疫组化研究肌成束蛋白的临床病理学和预后相关性。方法：用抗fascin抗体对137例HCC患者进行染色。具有明确的细胞质和/或膜成束蛋白免疫反应性的肿瘤细胞被定义为成束蛋白阳性。研究结果：免疫组化结果显示，23例（16.8%）肝细胞癌呈明确的fascin免疫反应阳性，fascin阳性表达的肝细胞癌比无fascin表达的肝细胞癌更大，分化程度更低（P分别为0.0239和0.0018）。Fascin阳性组门静脉侵犯、胆管侵犯和肝内转移的发生率明显高于阴性组（P分别为0.0029、0.0333和0.0403）。此外，高甲胎蛋白（AFP）水平与HCC中Fascin的表达显著相关（P=0.0116）。Fascin阳性组的预后显著差于Fascin阴性组，是无病生存的独立预后因素。结论：Fascin可能成为HCC进展的新标志物和HCC患者预后不良的重要指标。

BACKGROUND : Fascin is an actin-bundling protein and induces membrane protrusions and cell motility after the formation of lamellipodia or filopodia. Fascin expression has been reported to be associated with progression or prognosis in various neoplasms, but the role of fascin in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic relevance of fascin by immunohistochemistry. METHODS : A total of 137 patients with HCC were stained with anti-fascin antibody. The tumor cells having unequivocal cytoplasmic and/or membranous fascin immunoreactivity were defined as fascin-positive. RESULTS : Immunohistochemically, 23 (16.8%) HCCs having unequivocal fascin immunoreactivity were found. Tumors showing fascin expression were larger and less differentiated than those showing no fascin expression (P=0.0239 and 0.0018, respectively). Portal venous invasion, bile duct invasion, and intrahepatic metastasis were detected significantly more frequently in fascin-positive group (P=0.0029, 0.0333, and 0.0403, respectively). In addition, high alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were significantly associated with the fascin expression in HCC (P=0.0116). Fascin-positive group had significantly poorer outcomes than fascin-negative group and was an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival. CONCLUSIONS : Fascin might become a novel marker of progression in HCC and a significant indicator of a poor prognosis for patients with HCC.