ABSTRACT
Objective To detect the expression of SSX and to correlate it with clinical indicators of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods The expression of SSX1-5 mRNA and SSX1 protein were respectively detected by RT-PCR and Western blot and immunohistochemistry staining.The relation between the expression of SSX mRNA and SSX1 protein with clinical indicators were analysed.Results SSX1,SSX2,and SSX3 mRNA were expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines BEL-7404,Hep G2,and SMMC-7721.In 26 HCC samples,SSX1-SSX5 mRNA was detectable in 53.8％,42.3％,50.0％,46.2％ and 26.9％.The expression of SSX1 mRNA was not related to serum AFP levels (P ＞0.05).Specific expression was both found in the normal group and the high value group.The expression rate of SSX1 mRNA was 85.7％ in the older group,which was higher than in the younger group (16.7％,P ＜ 0.05).The expression rate of SSX1 protein was 50％ in HCC tissues,which was not seen in the caner-adjacent or cirrhosis tissues.In 49 HCC paraffin tissue section samples,the expression rate of SSX1 protein was higher than that in caner-adjacent tissues (46.9％ vs 18.4％,P ＜ 0.05).The expression rate of SSX1 protein was 68.3％ in the large hepatocellular carcinoma group,which was higher than in the small hepatocellular carcinoma group (29.6％),(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions SSX1 mRNA is expressed with a high percentage and specificity in HCC and their products are new potential promising targets for antigen-specific immunotherapy of HCC.The detection of SSX1 expression has the potential value for auxiliary diagnosis of HCC.