EXPRESSION OF BARD1 IN LIVER CANCER TISSUES AND ITS CORRELATION WITH CLINICAL FEATURES AND POOR PROGNOSIS OF LIVER CANCER PATIENTS

Yijiang Du, Xiaofeng Tai, Yi Han^*

Department of 2 Gastroenterology, The First People's Hospital of Tianshui City, Tianshui, PR China

Objective: To investigate the expression of BRCA1-associated RING domain 1 (BARD1) in liver-cancer tissues and its correlation with clinical characteristics and poor prognosis for liver cancer patients.

Methods: There were 109 cases of liver cancer tissue and 60 cases of paracancerous tissues surgically removed in the study hospital from January 2012 to January 2014. The expression of BARD1 was detected using the immunohistochemical method, and the correlation of its expression with clinical characteristics and poor prognoses for liver cancer patients was investigated.  

Results: The positive expression rate of BARD1 in liver cancer tissues was 73.39% (80/109), and that of BARD1 in paracancerous tissues was 56.67% (34/60). The difference was significant between the two groups (P<0.05). The expression of BARD1 was correlated with the appearance of a capsule, tumour diameter, TNM stage, and the number of nodules (P<0.05), but was not related to the age, sex, smoking, drinking, liver cirrhosis, and alpha-fetoprotein levels of patients with liver cancer (P>0.05). The median survival time was 28.21 months for patients with positive expression of BARD1 and 38.43 months for patients with negative expression of BARD1. The difference was significant between the two groups (P<0.05). The expression level of BARD1, the appearance of a capsule, tumour diameter, and TNM stage were found to independently affect the prognoses of patients with liver cancer.

Conclusion: BARD1 is expressed independently and at high levels in liver cancer tissues and plays a certain role in the occurrence and development of liver cancer, providing a new theoretical reference for the treatment and prognosis of liver cancer.