TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinicopathological significance of EZH2 mRNA expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
AU - Sudo, T.
AU - Utsunomiya, T.
AU - Mimori, K.
AU - Nagahara, H.
AU - Ogawa, K.
AU - Inoue, H.
AU - Wakiyama, S.
AU - Fujita, H.
AU - Shirouzu, K.
AU - Mori, M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ms M Kasagi and Ms M Oda for excellent assistance with RT–PCR and Ms T Shimooka for extraordinary assistance with the cell cultures. This work was supported in part by the following grants and foundations: Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (Nos. 15390398, 15390379 and 16390381) and (C) (Nos. 15591412 and 15591411) and a Grant-in-Aid for Exploratory Research (No. 16659337) from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science; and a Health and Labor Sciences Research Grant on Hepatitis and BSE (No. 14230801) from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan.
PY - 2005/5/9
Y1 - 2005/5/9
N2 - Enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2), a member of the polycomb group protein family, plays a crucial role in the regulation of embryonic development and has been associated with the regulation of the cell cycle. Recently, several studies have shown that EZH2 is highly expressed in aggressive tumours, including human breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphomas. We thus analysed EZH2 expression using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and correlated its expression status with various clinicopathological parameters in 66 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We found high expression of EZH2 in human liver cancer cell lines. Furthermore, EZH2 gene-expression levels in tumour tissue specimens (0.34 ± 0.52) were significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than those in the corresponding nontumour tissue specimens (0.07 ± 0.09). The incidence of cancer cell invasion into the portal vein was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the high EZH2 expression group (26 of the 33, 79%) than in the low expression group (13 of the 33, 39%). However, there was no significant difference in the disease-free survival rate between the two groups. The findings of this study indicate that EZH2 mRNA expression was upregulated in human HCC and may play an important role in tumour progression, especially by facilitating portal vein invasion.
AB - Enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2), a member of the polycomb group protein family, plays a crucial role in the regulation of embryonic development and has been associated with the regulation of the cell cycle. Recently, several studies have shown that EZH2 is highly expressed in aggressive tumours, including human breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphomas. We thus analysed EZH2 expression using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and correlated its expression status with various clinicopathological parameters in 66 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We found high expression of EZH2 in human liver cancer cell lines. Furthermore, EZH2 gene-expression levels in tumour tissue specimens (0.34 ± 0.52) were significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than those in the corresponding nontumour tissue specimens (0.07 ± 0.09). The incidence of cancer cell invasion into the portal vein was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the high EZH2 expression group (26 of the 33, 79%) than in the low expression group (13 of the 33, 39%). However, there was no significant difference in the disease-free survival rate between the two groups. The findings of this study indicate that EZH2 mRNA expression was upregulated in human HCC and may play an important role in tumour progression, especially by facilitating portal vein invasion.
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U2 - 10.1038/sj.bjc.6602531
DO - 10.1038/sj.bjc.6602531
M3 - Article
C2 - 15856046
AN - SCOPUS:19944397508
SN - 0007-0920
VL - 92
SP - 1754
EP - 1758
JO - British journal of cancer
JF - British journal of cancer
IS - 9
ER -
