Correlation of PDK1 expression with clinicopathologic features and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective: To explore the clinical significance of 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1) expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its association with clinicopathologic features and prognosis in HCC patients. Materials and methods: A total of 128 HCC patients who received radical resection were enrolled from Wenling Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital between May 2005 and December 2008, and tumor and adjacent tissue samples were collected. Expression of PDK1 was detected by immunohistochemistry method. Correlation of PDK1 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis was determined by Spearman's correlation analysis. Impact of expression of PDK1 on overall survival and recurrence was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results: Immunohistochemistry results showed that PDK1 expression in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in the corresponding adjacent cancer tissues. Univariate analysis showed that PDK1 messenger RNA expression can predict time to recurrence with diagnostic significance (P=0.001). Univariate analysis showed that alpha-fetoprotein level, tumor number, tumor encapsulation, microvascular invasion, and tumor-node-metastasis stage were also unfavorable prognostic variables for recurrence (P<0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that overexpression of PDK1 correlates with significantly shorter postoperative overall survival and higher recurrence rates (hazard ratio = 2.68; 95% confidence interval: 2.46-4.42, P=0.001) in HCC patients after curative resection. Conclusion: Our study indicated that PDK1 may serve as a candidate pro-oncogene and a potential prognostic biomarker for HCC.