ABSTRACT
Purpose To investigate the expression and clinical significance of free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) . Methods The expression of FFAR4 in HCC tissues and adjacent tissues of HCC patients was confirmed by 102 cases of liver resection and postoperative pathology, and the relationship between FFAR4 expression and clinical data of HCC patients was analyzed. Quantitative realtime PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot were used to detect the expression of FFAR4 in 20 pairs of freshly frozen HCC and adjacent tissues,and the related literatures were reviewed. Results The expression rate of FFAR4 in HCC tissues was 64. 7％ (66/102) ,and that in adjacent tissues was 15. 7％ (16/102) . The difference in FFAR4 expression between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0. 05) . The high expression of FFAR4 in HCC tissues was significantly correlated with tumor vascular invasion (P < 0. 05) ,TNM stage (P < 0. 01) ,and Edmondson classification (P < 0. 05) . qRT-PCR and Western blot showed that the expression of FFAR4 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0. 01,P< 0. 05) . Conclusion The expression of FFAR4 is significantly associated with the presence of vascular invasion,TNM staging, and Edmondson grading in HCC. High expression of FFAR4 may be closely related to the severity of HCC patients.