Up-regulation of C/EBPa in hepatocellular carcinoma is correlated to poorer prognosis

Abstract

C/EBPa is a transcription factor belonging to the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein family. It is expressed in the liver and some other tissues and is involved in the control of cellular proliferation, differentiation, energy metabolism and immunology. C/EBPa has been extensively studied in acute myeloid leukemia, where its mutation leads to the loss of its cell proliferation inhibiting function, but its role and regulation in solid tumors such as human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCCs) is less well-studied. Using immunohistochemistry, 191 matched pairs of human primary HCC and non-malignant tissues were stained, scored and analyzed. Statistical tools, including Kaplan-Meier curves were used in our analysis. 76% of matched patient samples showed up-regulation of C/EBPa expression in tumor compared with adjacent non-tumor tissue. The C/EBPa expression levels were correlated with respective patients? survival data to determine the significance of their up-regulation. The results showed that C/EBPa up-regulation is correlated to poorer survival rate (p-value 0.019). Use of multi-variate analysis showed C/EBPa to be an independent prognosis factor for overall survival. Thus, this study suggests that C/EBPa may be involved in tumour growth and it could potentially be used as an independent and potential prognosis marker for HCC.