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High AKR1B10 protein expression showed promising survival rates for HCC

Among a cohort of Korean patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, high aldo-keto reductase 1B10 protein expression predicted longer recurrence-free and disease-specific survival rates vs. patients with low protein expression.

Sang Yun Ha, MD, of Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Korea, and colleagues used tissue microarrays to measure expression levels of aldo-keto reductase 1B10 (AKR1B10) protein in tumors of 255 patients with HCC who underwent curative hepatectomy to determine its effect on the survival of the patients during a median follow-up period of 119.8 months.

Overall, high AKR1B10 protein expression was seen in 49% of the patients (n=125). High AKR1B10 expression was associated with a lack of invasion of the major portal vein (P=.022), a lack of intrahepatic metastasis (P=.01), lower American Joint Committee on Cancer T stage (P=.016), lower Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage (P=.006) and lower alpha-fetoprotein levels (P=.020). High AKR1B10 expression was correlated with no early recurrence (P=.022); however, it was not correlated with late recurrence (P=.255).

High AKR1B10 expression showed positive authority for both recurrence-free survival (P=.02) and disease-specific survival (P=.007). The 5-year recurrence-free survival rate was greater in patients with high AKR1B10 expression compared with patients with low expression (40% vs. 27.7%), as well as the 5-year disease-specific survival rate (76.2% vs. 61.3%). Multivariate analysis showed high AKR1B10 expression to be an independent predictor of longer survival without recurrence (P=.024) and longer disease-specific survival (P=.046).     

“This study demonstrated that AKR1B10 protein expression in HCC tissues might be a clinically useful predictive marker for good prognosis of HCC after curative hepatectomy in a large number of HCC patients with long-term follow-up,” the researchers concluded.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.