The prognostic role and reduced expression of FOXJ2 in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the potential role of the FOXJ2 (forkhead box J2) protein in the pathology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Western blotting was performed to determine the expression levels of FOXJ2 in HCC tissues and HCC cells. Specimens from 110 patients with HCC undergoing hepatic resection were evaluated for FOXJ2 expression using an immunohistochemical assay. The correlation between FOXJ2 expression and clinicopathological factors of the patients was determined by statistical analysis to determine the prognostic merit of FOXJ2 expression in HCC. The detailed involvement of FOXJ2 in the regulation of HCC proliferation was further investigated using FOXJ2-targeting small interfering RNA (siRNA). FOXJ2 protein was identified to be significantly downregulated in HCC tissues compared with adjacent normal liver tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that the expression of FOXJ2 was negatively correlated with Ki-67 levels in HCC specimens (r=-0.679, P