Objective To investigate the expressions of
ATPase family AAA domain-containing
protein 2 (ATAD2) and β-
catenin,and to analyze their correlations with clinicopathological features and prognostic significance in
patients with
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods The HCC
tissues of 40
patients were tested by
real-time PCR to study the expressions of ATAD2 and β-
catenin.
Real-time PCR and
Western blot were performed to detect the
proteins and
mRNA levels of ATAD2,APC,β-
catenin and
wnt signaling pathway downstream.The HCC
tissues of 80
patients and 20 peritumoral
tissues were tested by
immunohistochemistry (IHC).The cumulative
survival-rate was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier
method,and univariate and multivariate were analyzed by the
Cox proportional hazards model.Results ISHThe positive rates of ATAD2 and β-
catenin were 65.0% and 55.0%,respectively.These rates were significantly higher than those in the peritumoral
tissues (30.0% and 25.0%,respectively).The ATAD2 expression was related to
tumor size (P < 0.05),
metastasis (P < 0.05),
serum AFP level (P < 0.05) and TNM stag ing (P < 0.05).The β-
catenin expression was only significantly related to
metastasis (P < 0.05).Correlation
analysis showed that the ATAD2 expression was positively related to the β-
catenin expression (Pearson =0.578,P < 0.01,R2 =0.3607,Spearman =0.495).This positive relationship was also found in the remaining 4
cell lines except the SK-hep1.Depleting ATAD2 up-regulated APC and down-regulated β-
catenin protein and
mRNA expression.Univariate and
multivariate analyses showed that ATAD2 and β-
catenin expressions,
tumor size,
metastasis,
serum AFP,and
TNM staging were poor
prognostic factors for HCC,and ATAD2 and β-
catenin expressions,
metastasis,
serum.AFP were independent
prognostic factors.
Patients whose ATAD2 and β-
catenin were both positive had worse
survival than those with only one positive expression or both negative expressions (P < 0.05).Depleting ATAD2 down-regulated
survivin,cyclinD1,c-myc,MMP7,
Vimentin in
wnt signaling pathway and EMT related
proteins.Conclusions ATAD2 and β-
catenin expressions were positively related in
patients with HCC.Abnormal expressions between ATAD2 and β-
catenin might participate in the
wnt signaling pathway.