Expression of mucin 15 in hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinical implications

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of mucin 15 (MUC15) in hepatocellular carcinoma and explore its association with the prognosis of patients.

METHODS: The expression of MUC15 was detected by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting in liver cell line L02, liver cancer cell lines HepG2, MHCC-97H, and SMMC-7721, and in 122 HCC and corresponding adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. The association of MUC15 expression in HCC tissues with the clinical parameters and the patients' survival was analyzed.

RESULTS: The 1iver cell line L02 showed significantly higher MUC15 expression level than the liver cancer cell lines HepG2, MHCC-97H, and SMMC-7721 (P<0.05). The expression level of MUC15 was markedly lower in the HCC tissues than in the adjacent non-tumor liver tissues (P<0.05). MUC15 expression in the HCC tissues was significantly correlated with the tumor TNM stage, intrahepatic or lymphatic metastasis, portal vein thrombosis and tumor differentiation (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis suggested that a low MUC15 expression was associated with a poor clinical prognosis of the patients.

CONCLUSION: The expression of MUC15 is correlated with the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients, and may potentially serve as a novel prognostic marker for HCC.