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Increased polycomb-group oncogene Bmi-1 expression correlates with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

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Abstract

Purpose

Recent studies have identified polycomb-group gene Bmi-1 as oncogene in the generation of mouse pre-cell lymphomas, and overexpression of Bmi-1 has been found in several human tumor with the disease progress and poor prognosis of the cancer patients.

Methods

In present study, we investigated Bmi-1 expression and its prognostic significance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by performing immunohistochemical analysis, using a total of 137 HCC clinical tissue samples.

Results

High Bmi-1 expression (Bmi-1 2+ or 3+) was shown in 29.9% cases. The positive immuno-staining of Bmi-1 was not only in well/moderately-differentiated tumor cells, but also in surrounding noncancerous or cirrhotic liver tissue. Bmi-1 expression level did not correlate with any clinicopathological parameters. However, survival analysis showed that the high-Bmi-1 group had a significantly shorter overall survival time than the low-Bmi-1 group (P = 0.047). Multivariate analysis after 24 months revealed that Bmi-1 expression was a significant and independent prognostic parameter (P = 0.002) for HCC patients.

Conclusions

Our study indicated that Bmi-1 could be a candidate biomarker for long-term survival in HCC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China and Department of Experimental Research, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 651 Dongfeng Road East, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Wang, Ke Pan, Hua-kun Zhang, De-sheng Weng, Jun Zhou, Jian-jun Li, Wei Huang, Hai-feng Song & Jian-chuan Xia

  2. Department of Hepatobilary Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, 510060, People’s Republic of China

    Min-shan Chen

Authors
  1. Hui Wang
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  2. Ke Pan
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  3. Hua-kun Zhang
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  4. De-sheng Weng
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  5. Jun Zhou
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  6. Jian-jun Li
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  7. Wei Huang
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  8. Hai-feng Song
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  9. Min-shan Chen
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  10. Jian-chuan Xia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian-chuan Xia.

Additional information

The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, H., Pan, K., Zhang, Hk. et al. Increased polycomb-group oncogene Bmi-1 expression correlates with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 134, 535–541 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-007-0316-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-007-0316-8

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