%0 Journal Article
%T Fibroblast growth factor 19 expression correlates with tumor progression and poorer prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma
%A Seiki Miura
%A Noboru Mitsuhashi
%A Hiroaki Shimizu
%A Fumio Kimura
%A Hiroyuki Yoshidome
%A Masayuki Otsuka
%A Atsushi Kato
%A Takashi Shida
%A Daiki Okamura
%A Masaru Miyazaki
%J BMC Cancer
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2407-12-56
%X We investigated human FGF19 and FGFR4 expression in 40 hepatocellular carcinoma specimens using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, we examined the expression and the distribution of FGF19 and FGFR4 in 5 hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HepG2, HuH7, HLE, HLF, and JHH7) using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. To test the role of the FGF19/FGFR4 system in tumor progression, we used recombinant FGF19 protein and small interfering RNA (siRNA) of FGF19 and FGFR4 to regulate their concentrations.We found that FGF19 was significantly overexpressed in HCCs as compared with corresponding noncancerous liver tissue (P < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the tumor FGF19 mRNA expression was an independent prognostic factor for overall and disease-free survival. Moreover, we found that the FGF19 recombinant protein could increase the proliferation (P < 0.01, n = 12) and invasion (P < 0.01, n = 6) capabilities of human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and inhibited their apoptosis (P < 0.01, n = 12). Inversely, decreasing FGF19 and FGFR4 expression by siRNA significantly inhibited proliferation and increased apoptosis in JHH7 cells (P < 0.01, n = 12). The postoperative serum FGF19 levels in HCC patients was significantly lower than the preoperative levels (P < 0.01, n = 29).FGF19 is critically involved in the development of HCCs. Targeting FGF19 inhibition is an attractive potential therapeutic strategy for HCC.Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive solid tumor associated with poor prognosis [1]. Curative therapies of surgical treatment, including hepatic resection and liver transplantation, improve the chances of survival of patients with HCC [2-4]. However, a limited number of patients can be treated with surgery because of the damage to liver function. The prognosis for most patients remains poor after surgery for multicentric recurrence and intr
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/12/56