High expression of TRIM11 correlates with poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Tripartite Motif Containing 11 (TRIM11), a member of TRIM proteins is overexpressed in gliomas and lung cancer. However, the role of TRIM11 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown.

Basic Procedures: Herein, we aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance role of TRIM11 in HCC.

Main Finding: In this study, our data showed significant higher TRIM11 in HCC tissues (n=117) than in the matched non-tumor liver (NTL) tissues (P<0.01). In consistent with above data, we also found TRIM11 protein expression was significantly increased compared with the matched NTL (P<0.01) by immunohistochemistry analysis. Additionally, our results showed that TRIM11 protein expression in HCC tissues was significantly associated with pathological grade (P<0.01), tumor postoperative metastasis (P=0.031), recurrence (P=0.022), and serum a-fetoprotein (AFP) (P<0.01). Moreover, patients' survival was negatively correlated with TRIM11 protein expression. Furthermore, we found that TRIM11 protein was an independent prognostic factor for disease-free (P<0.01) and overall survival (P<0.01) in HCC patients.

Principal Conclusions: Our data showed that TRIM11 expression was significantly elevated in HCC tissues. The overexpression of TRIM11 is closely associated with HCC progression and poor survival of the patients, indicating TRIM11 is a potential therapeutic target for HCC patients.