Expression of PIK3R1 in human primary hepatocellular carcinoma and its correlation with epithelial mesenchymal transformation

ObjectiveTo investigate the expression level of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase regulatory subunit 1(PIK3R1) in human primary hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) and its correlation with epithelial mesenchymal transformation of malignant tumor.

MethodsThe expression levels of PIK3R1 coding protein(PIK3R1/p85α) in HCC tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues of 80 HCC patients were detected by immunohistochemical staining. The expression levels of EMT-related proteins transforming growth factor β(TGF-β) and epithelial cadherin(E-cadherin) in HCC tissue were detected, and the correlation of the expression with clinical characteristics of HCC patients was evaluated.

ResultsThe positive rate of PIK3R1 expression in HCC tissue(70.0%) was significantly higher than that in corresponding adjacent tissue(17.5%)(P < 0.05). The differences of the expression of PIK3R1/p85α, E-cadherin and TGF-β in HCC patients with different levels of tissue differentiation were statistically significant(P < 0.05 to P < 0.01). The expression of PIK3R1/p85α was negatively correlated with E-cadherin expression(r=-0.323, P < 0.01), and positively correlated with TGF-β expression in HCC tissue(r=0.247, P < 0.05). The difference of the protein expression of PIK3R1/p85α between non-invasive metastatic and invasive metastatic HCC patients was statistically significant(P < 0.05).

ConclusionsThe expression level of PIK3R1 in HCC tissue increases. The high level of PIK3R1 may promote the epithelial mesenchymal transformation of tumors, and be associated with the poor prognosis of HCC.