Overexpression of protein kinase Cα mRNA in human hepatocellular carcinoma:: A potential marker of disease prognosis

Members of the protein kinase C (PKC) isoenzyme family play a central role in the tumorigenesis of several tissues. However, little is known about subtype specific intracellular expression of PKC in human hepatocellular carcinomas. Methods: We investigated PKC isoforms mRNA expression in 42 HCC specimens using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis, and the correlation between PKC isoforms expression and clinicopathologic parameters. Results: We found that PKC alpha, PKC delta and PKC iota mRNA were significantly increased in HCCs as compared to the corresponding non-cancerous liver tissues. PKC alpha expression also significantly correlated with tumor size (P<0.05) and TNM stage (P<0.05), but PKC delta and PKC iota did not. The log-rank analysis revealed that patients with higher PKC alpha mRNA expression in the HCC tissues had significantly shorter survival rate than patients with lower PKC alpha mRNA expression (P<0.01). Conclusions: Our results suggested that the PKC alpha may be a prognostic factor for the survival of patients with HCC. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.