Clusterin role in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with oxaliplatin.

AIM: To explore the prognostic value of clusterin (CLU) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with oxaliplatin (OXA). METHODS: Relative expression of plasma CLU mRNA was examined via fluorescence quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), and CLU protein level in tissue samples was detected through immunohistochemistry. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between CLU mRNA expression and clinical features of HCC patients treated with OXA. Kaplan-Meier method was performed to assess overall survival for the patients, and prognostic value of CLU in HCC patients was estimated via Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: CLU expression in plasma and tissue specimens was significantly higher among HCC patients than in non-malignant controls (P < 0.001 for both). Moreover, elevated CLU mRNA was closely related to tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and response to OXA (P < 0.05). HCC patients with high CLU expression showed poor response to OXA. In addition, low CLU levels predicted long overall survival time among the study subjects (20.8 vs. 36.6 months, P < 0.001). CLU was an independent prognostic indicator for HCC patients treated with OXA (HR = 2.587, 95%CI = 1.749-3.828, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: CLU may be a novel prognostic marker for HCC patients treated with OXA.