Inverse correlation of ribosomal protein S27A and multifunctional protein YB-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Objective: The detection of possible correlation between ribosomal protein RPS27A and multifunctional YB-1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Design and methods: Tissue microarray slides containing totally 80 cores with 19 tissues of HCC, 1 tissue of hepatocholangiocarcinoma, 10 tissues of liver cirrhosis and 10 normal liver tissues in duplicates were analyzed for expression of RPS27A and YB-1 by immunohistochemistry.

Results: Among each of 10 LC and normal liver tissues all (100%) showed RPS27A positive expression but only 11 out of 19 HCC tissues (57.89%) showed RPS27A positive expression with significant difference compared (P<0.05) with both LC and normal tissues. We found positive expression of YB-1 in 17 tissues out of 19 HCC tissues (89.47%) but only 4 tissues out of each 10 LC as well as normal liver tissues showed positive expression with significant (P<0.01) difference compared to HCC tissues. A statistically significant inverse weak correlation (rho=-0.293) between YB-1 expression and RPS27A expression was found.

Conclusion: The present investigation concludes that the ribosomal protein RPS27A was down-regulated in viral induced HCC patients. RPS27A expression was found to have a weak inverse correlation with overexpression of multifunctional protein YB-1 in HCC tissues. This study opens up a new window for YB-1-RPS27A axis in HCC.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Liver cirrhosis; RPS27A; Tissue microarray; YB-1.