BC 04. Retinoic Acid Receptor-Related Receptor Alpha (RORalpha) is a Prognostic Marker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

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M. Lu, R. Fu

Chair(s): Mustafa Cikirikcioglu, Frank Dor, René Tolba, David J. Hackam, Cliff Shearman, Modise Koto

14:00 - 14:10h at Erszebet Room (A)

Categories: ESSR Best Clinical Research Paper, Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery

Session: ESSR Best Clinical Research Paper

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Invited discussant: Osman Yuksel, Attila Szijártó, Lázár György, Gokhan Yagci, Mihály Boros, Thomas Hubert

Background
RORalpha is a tumor suppressor in some solid cancers. However, the role of RORalpha in HCC carcinogenesis has not been fully elucidated. This study investigated the expression of RORalpha in HCC and evaluated its relationship with clinical parameters and prognosis in HCC patients.

Material and Methods
qRT-PCR and Western blots were performed to detect RORalpha expression levels in 20 paired HCC and corresponding adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Immunohistochemistry was performed on 100 archived paraffin-embedded HCC samples. Statistical analyses evaluated the correlations between RORalpha expression and clinicopathological features.

Result
qRT-PCR and Western blots showed that RORalpha mRNA and protein expression were downregulated in tumors compared to the adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Immunohistochemistry revealed that decreased RORalpha expression was present in 65% of HCC patients. Correlation analyses showed that RORalpha expression was correlated with AFP (p=0.005), pathology grade (p<0.001), tumor recurrence (p=0.008), and vascular invasion (p<0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that patients with low RORalpha expression levels had shorter overall and disease-free survival than patients with high expression (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that RORalpha was an independent predictor for overall survival (HR 0.362; 95%CI 0.168-0.780; p =0.001) and disease-free survival (HR 0.391; 95%CI 0.207-0.735; p=0.004).

Conclusion
RORalpha mRNA and protein expression were significantly down-regulated in HCC tissues. Downregulated RORalpha expression was associated with poorer prognosis in HCC patients. RORalpha may be a new potential prognostic marker for HCC patients.