Evaluation of Jagged2 and Gli1 expression and their correlation with prognosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Jagged2 is closely associated with numerous congenital diseases and has an important role in multiple malignancies. It has been identified that Jagged2 is a sonic hedgehog-regulated factor. However, its expression and correlation with Gli1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. A total of 58 samples of surgically resected paired HCC and normal tumor-adjacent tissues were collected, and the Jagged2 and Gli1 expression was detected in the samples using immunohistochemical staining. The correlation between Jagged2 and Gli1 protein expression, and their correlation with the clinicopathological features of HCC were analyzed. The protein expression of Jagged2 and Gli1 were significantly upregulated in HCC tissues compared with the normal tumor-adjacent tissues (P<0.001, respectively), and Jagged2 expression was positively correlated with Gli1 protein in HCC tissues (r=0.643, P<0.001). Jagged2 and Gli1 protein were expressed at significantly higher levels in patients with intrahepatic metastasis, high histological grade and advanced tumor-node-metastasis stage (TNM) stage (P<0.05, respectively). With the Cox proportional hazard regression mode, the independent factors predictive of poor long-term HCC survival following radical liver resection included high expression of Jagged2, advanced TNM stage and high histological grade (P<0.05). In HCC, high expression of Jagged2 was closely correlated with poor clinicopathological features, and it may therefore be a potential prognosis predictor for patients with HCC.