RESUMO
Purpose To study the expression of Ech1 in hepatocarcinoma and its clinical significance, and to explore the relationship between subcellular location of Ech1 and malignant biologic behaviour of hepatocarcinoma. Methods Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect Ech1 expression in the 20 cases of normal liver tissue and the 30 cases of hepatocarcinoma. Subcellular location of Ech1 in Hca-F and FEch1-down cell was observed with subcellular protein extraction. Results The expression of Ech1 in primary hepa-tocarcinoma was increased compared to that of normal liver tissues ( P0. 05). Ech1 was found expressed almost at the same location although the expression level one is normal and the other is downregulation. Ech1 expres-sion was found in cytosol, membrane fraction, and its expression was higher in cytosol than other fractions both in Hca-F cell and Ech1 downregulated Hca-F cell. Conclusions The expression of Ech1 in primary hepatocarcinoma was increased, which may indicate that Ech1 is a critical factor in the development of primary hepatocarcinoma, but the subcellular location of Ech1 has not much contribution to that.