Decreased SLC39A1 (Solute carrier family 39 member 1) expression predicts unfavorable prognosis in patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma

ABSTRACT

Solute carrier family 39, member 1 (SLC39A1) is a member of the zinc-iron permease family and located to the cell membrane, acting as a zinc uptake transporter. However, the clinical impacts of SLC39A1 in early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (EHCC) have not been defined. In this research, we compared the differential expression of SLC39A1 in EHCC and normal tissues based on tissue microarray, and the clinical significance of SLC39A1 in EHCC was evaluated as well. Compared with adjacent tissues, SLC39A1 was remarkably decreased in paired EHCC tissues. Besides, decreased SLC39A1 expression was significantly associated with several clinic-pathological features and serum biochemical indicators. Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis exhibited that both overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) of patients with low expression of SLC39A1 were notably poorer than that of patients with high expression. Moreover, Cox regression analyses revealed that low expression of SLC39A1 was an independent prognostic factor for OS in patients with EHCC. Subgroup analysis also revealed beneficiary populations benefiting from the prognostic evaluation using SLC39A1 expression. Collectively, we summarized that downregulated expression of SLC39A1 is a worse prognostic factor for patients with EHCC, which can be used as a promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for EHCC.

KEYWORDS:

• SLC39A1
• HCC
• immunohistochemistry
• prognosis
• biomarker

Research highlights

SLC39A1 expression was downregulated in EHCC tissues

SLC39A1 expression was correlated with differentiated degree, OS and RFS event

SLC39A1 expression was negatively correlated with AFP and ALT levels

Decreased SLC39A1 expression was associated with poor prognosis in EHCC

Acknowledgements

QZ and QLZ conceived the study and participated in the study design, performance, coordination and manuscript writing. QLZ, JDP, FMA and HN carried out the assays and analysis. QZ revised the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Data Availability Statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical statement

Ethical approval for the study of tissue microarray slides was granted by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee, Outdo Biotech (Shanghai, China).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81773227) and the Young Medical Talents of Wuxi (No. QNRC036);Young Medical Talents of Wuxi [No. QNRC036].