Liver-intestine cadherin predicts microvascular invasion and poor prognosis of hepatitis B virus-positive hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

Liver-intestine cadherin (LI-cadherin; CDH-17) is a new member of the cadherin superfamily with distinct structural and functional features. The study was designed to investigate the role of LI-cadherin in tumor invasion and prognosis of human hepatitis B virus (HBV)-positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). LI-cadherin expression in HBV-positive hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with low- and high-invasive potentials was evaluated by Western-blot, immunofluorescence, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses. The role of LI-cadherin in tumor invasion was also evaluated in vitro by a small-interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA)-mediated approach. The prognostic significance of LI-cadherin was validated in a cohort of HBV-positive HCC patients by immunohistochemistry and Western-blot. Significant high levels of LI-cadherin mRNA and protein were found in the high-invasive HCCLM3 as compared with those in low-invasive PLC/PRF/5 and Hep3B cell line. Cell migration, adhesion to extracellular matrix, and matrigel invasion were significantly reduced after LI-cadherin knockdown in HCCLM3 cells. Immunohistochemical analysis of 255 HBV-positive HCC cases showed that overexpression of LI-cadherin was well correlated with microvascular invasion, which was confirmed by Western-blot in 32 tumor tissues, and its overexpression was strongly associated with shorter overall survival as well as higher incidence of tumor recurrence. LI-cadherin is predictive of microvascular invasion and poor prognosis of HBV-positive HCC, and would be a potential useful intervention target for HCC.