Expression of PTEN and hTERT gene and their correlation in human hepatocellular carcinomo

Objective To investigate the significance of the expression of PTEN and hTERT gene and their correlation in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods The expression of PTEN protein and hTERT protein in HCC and their corresponding para carcinoma liver tissues from 58 HCC patients was detected by immunohistochemistry (SP method) and the expression of PTEN mRNA and hTERT mRNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) respectively.The correlation between PTEN and hTERT gene in HCC was analyzed.Results The expression of PTEN protein was definitely located in cytoplasma of HCC.The positive rate of PTEN mRNA and PTEN protein in HCC was respectively 41.38% (24/58) and 44.83% (26/58),significantly lower than that in the corresponding para carcinoma liver tissues:100% (58/58) ( P 0.01). The expression of hTERT protein was mostly located in cytoplasma of HCC,occasionally in nucleus.The positive rate of hTERT mRNA and hTERT protein in HCC were respectively 82.76% (48/58) and 87.93% (51/58),obviously higher than that in the corresponding para carcinoma liver tissues:24.14% (14/58) and 27.59% (16/58) respectively ( P 0.01). There was a negative correlation between PTEN and hTERT gene expression in HCC ( P 0.05). Conclusion Loss of PTEN gene expression and positive expression of hTERT gene may play an important role in the genesis and development of HCC.PTEN and hTERT gene may serve as an importment molecular biological indicators in diagnosing and predicating the biological behavior of HCC.The significant negative correlation between the expression of PTEN and hTERTgene indicates the one of the approaches of hTERT activation and up regulation may be conferred by the loss of PTEN gene expression in HCC.