Prognostic value of integrin variants and expression in post-operative patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

Integrins are a large family of cell surface receptors that bind extracellular matrix proteins and participate in cancer progression. However, the prognostic value of integrin family genes in post-operative patients with HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. In this study, we investigated 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in integrin family genes and found that the AG/GG genotypes at rs988574 in predicted a better prognosis compared to carriers of the AA genotype ( = 0.025, HR = 0.69, 95%CI = 0.50-0.96). Moreover, rs988574 genotype combined with serum level of AFP had a better prognostic value in HBV-related HCC patients ( = 0.026, HR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.07-2.85). Furthermore, we compared the expression of 24 integrin family genes in HBV-related HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Survival analysis demonstrated that expression of three of the family members, , and , were significantly associated with the overall survival (OS) or relapse-free survival (RFS) of HBV-related HCC patients. Additionally, patients with lower expression of both and had the best OS and RFS ( = 0.017 and = 0.002, respectively). Our study demonstrated that rs988574 of and the expression of , and are potential independent prognostic bio-markers and therapeutic targets for HBV-related HCC patients and may be useful for the diagnosis of HBV-related HCC.