Lesion human leukocyte antigen‑F expression is associated with a poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Xu,Yongfu; Han,Haixiong; Zhang,Fabiao; Lv,Shangdong; Li,Zhengyu; Fang,Zheping

doi:10.3892/ol.2014.2686

Lesion human leukocyte antigen‑F expression is associated with a poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Authors:
- Yongfu Xu
- Haixiong Han
- Fabiao Zhang
- Shangdong Lv
- Zhengyu Li
- Zheping Fang
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Affiliations: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, Zhejiang 317000, P.R. China
Published online on: November 7, 2014 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2014.2686
Pages: 300-304

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Abstract

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)‑F, a non‑classical HLA‑class I molecule, has attracted attention as an important immunosuppressive molecule in recent years, although the clinical relevance of HLA‑F expression in cancer patients remains unclear. In the present study, HLA‑F expression in 90 primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) lesions and 55 corresponding adjacent normal liver tissues was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and the associations between HLA‑F expression and clinicopathological parameters and patient survival times were analyzed. Positive HLA‑F expression was observed in 47.8% (43/90) of the HCC lesions and in 10.9% (6/55) of the normal liver tissues. HLA‑F expression in HCC lesions was significantly correlated with patient gender (P=0.02), and venous or lymphatic invasion (P=0.02). Patients who were HLA‑F‑positive had worse survival times than those who were HLA‑F‑negative (P=0.04). The mean overall survival times for HLA‑F‑negative and ‑positive patients were 44.2 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 37.7‑50.7] and 33.0 months (95% CI, 25.1‑40.8), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that HLA‑F was an independent prognostic factor for HCC patients with a hazard ratio of 2.1 (95% CI, 1.0‑4.4). In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that HLA‑F expression was associated with poor survival in HCC patients, and is correlated with tumor cell invasion and metastasis.

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