Association of hTcf-4 gene expression and mutation with clinicopathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is a significant health problem in China. But the molecular mechanisms of HCC remains unclear. APC/beta-Catenin/Tcf signaling pathway, also known as Wnt pathway, plays a critical role in the development and oncogenesis. As little is known about the alteration of human T-cell transcription factor-4 (hTcf-4) gene in HCC, it is of interest to study the expression and mutation of hTcf-4 gene in HCC and the relationship between hTcf-4 gene and progression of HCC. METHODS: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method was used to detect the expression of hTcf-4 mRNA in 32 HCC and para-cancerous tissues and 5 normal liver tissues. PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) method was used to detect the mutation of hTcf-4 exons 1, 4, 9 and 15 in HCC. The correlation of expression and mutation of the hTcf-4 gene with clinicopathological characteristics of HCC was also analyzed. RESULTS: RT-PCR showed that the expression rate of hTcf-4 mRNA in HCC, para-cancerous tissues and normal liver tissues was 90.6 %, 71.9 % and 80 %, respectively. The gene expression level in tumor was 0.71 +/- 0.13, much higher than that in para-cancerous liver 0.29 +/- 0.05 and normal liver 0.26 +/- 0.05 (P<0.001), although there was no significant difference in gene expression level between para-cancerous tissues and normal liver (P >0.05). Furthermore, hTcf-4 gene expression was closely associated with tumor capsule status and intrahepatic metastasis of HCC. On SSCP, 2 of 32 cases of HCC (6.25 %) displayed characteristic mutational mobility shifts in exon 15 of the hTcf-4 gene. No abnormal shifting bands were observed in para-cancerous tissues. CONCLUSION: The high expression level of hTcf-4 in HCC, especially in tumors with metastasis, suggests that the overexpression of hTcf-4 gene may be closely associated with development and progression of HCC, but the mutation of this gene seemed to play less important role in this respect.