Clinicopathologic and Prognostic Significance of Carboxyl Terminus of Hsp70-interacting Protein in HBV-related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Many factors, including molecular ones, were demonstrated to be associated with long-termprognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Thus far, the expression and clinicopathologic and prognosticsignificance of the carboxyl terminus of Hsp70-interacting protein (CHIP) in B-type hepatitis virus (HBV)-related HCC remain unknown. Materials and
Methods: CHIP expression was detected by immunohistochemicalstaining of surgical samples from 79 patients with HCC with HBsAg positivity. In addition, correlations withclinicopathologic parameters and patient survival were evaluated.
Results: It was found that positive CHIPstaining was observed in tumor, but not non-tumor, tissues. High expression of CHIP was significantly related tolarger tumor size, with marginally significant associations noted for presence of portal vein invasion and higherserum a-fetoprotein level. In addition, univariate analysis showed that high CHIP expression was a powerfulpredictor for dismal overall and disease-free survival. However, independent prognostic implications of CHIPwere not proven in multivariate Cox regression test.
Conclusions: CHIP is overexpressed in HBV-related HCCand is associated with unfavorable biological behavior as well as poor prognosis. However, its prognostic roleneeds to be further validated.