Β-Catenin expression correlates with prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization

Abstract

Background/Aim: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is one of the most widely used palliative therapies for the unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, a large difference is found in prognosis among patients treated with TACE. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic value of β-catenin in HCC patients treated with TACE. Materials and Methods: Seventy patients with HCC were included in this study. Expression of β-catenin was determined by immunohistochemistry in biopsy samples taken before TACE. The patients were treated with TACE and followed-up. Clinicopathological parameters, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated to analyze the association of β-catenin expression with prognosis for HCC patients after TACE. Results: HCC patient biopsies exhibited a significantly higher positive rate of β-catenin expression (72.86%) compared to paracancer normal tissues (19.44%) (p<0.01). β-Catenin expression was closely correlated with tumor differentiation, tumor size, serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) level and TACE treatment frequency (all p<0.05). Patients with negative β-catenin expression had longer PFS and OS after TACE compared to those with positive β-catenin expression (PFS: 44.2 vs. 14.1 months, p=0.004; OS: 56.4 vs. 35.9 months, p<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that β-catenin expression in HCC patients treated with TACE was an independent prognostic factor for higher PFS and OS. Conclusion: The HCC patients with increased β-catenin expression have a poor prognosis with lower survival rate.