Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 30:28:1610635.
doi: 10.3389/pore.2022.1610635. eCollection 2022.

Clinicopathological Implications of ASAP1 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Seongsik Bang  1 , Seungyun Jee  1 , Hwangkyu Son  1 , Hyebin Cha  1 , Jongmin Sim  2 , Yeseul Kim  2 , Hosub Park  1 , Jaekyung Myung  1 , Hyunsung Kim  1 , Seungsam Paik  1
Affiliations

Clinicopathological Implications of ASAP1 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Seongsik Bang et al. Pathol Oncol Res. .

Abstract

Background: The expression of ArfGAP with SH3 domain ankyrin repeat and PH domain 1 (ASAP1) is increased in various types of cancer, showing potential as a prognostic marker. The clinicopathological implications of ASAP1 expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. We thus investigated the clinicopathological significance and prognostic effect of ASAP1 expression in HCC patients. Materials and Methods: ASAP1 expression was assessed in 149 HCC tissue samples using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The associations between ASAP1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. The prognostic effect of ASAP1 expression in patients with HCC was evaluated based on survival analyses and confirmed using a web-based tool. Results: ASAP1 expression was observed in the cytoplasm of tumor cells. High ASAP1 expression was observed in 89 (59.7%) of 149 cases. High ASAP1 expression was significantly associated with male patients (p = 0.018), higher histological grade (p = 0.013), vessel invasion (p = 0.021), and higher stage (p = 0.020). High ASAP1 expression was associated with shorter overall survival (OS; p = 0.041) and recurrence-free survival (RFS; p = 0.008) based on Kaplan-Meier survival analyses. Web-based analysis using Kaplan-Meier (KM) plotter showed high mRNA ASAP1 expression to be associated with short OS (p = 0.001). Conclusion: High ASAP1 expression was associated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics and poor clinical outcomes in patients with HCC. ASAP1 can be considered a prognostic biomarker in HCC patients.

Keywords: ASAP1; ArfGAP with SH3 domain ankyrin repeat and PH domain 1; hepatocellular carcinoma; immunohistochemistry; prognosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Representative photomicrographs of immunohistochemical staining with ASAP1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (x200). Negative (A), weak (B), moderate (C), and strong (D) cytoplasmic expression.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Prognostic implication of ASAP1 expression. (A,B) Survival analyses using the Kaplan-Meier method in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. There was significant difference in overall survival (log-rank test, p = 0.041) and recurrence-free survival (log-rank test, p = 0.008). (C) Web-based analysis using a Kaplan-Meier plotter demonstrated that the group with high ASAP1 mRNA expression showed poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 364; log-rank test, p = 0.001).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, et al. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA Cancer J Clin (2021) 71(3):209–49. 10.3322/caac.21660 - DOI - PubMed
    1. McGlynn KA, Petrick JL, El-Serag HB. Epidemiology of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Hepatology (2021) 73(1):4–13. 10.1002/hep.31288 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Llovet JM, Kelley RK, Villanueva A, Singal AG, Pikarsky E, Roayaie S, et al. Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Nat Rev Dis Primers (2021) 7(1):6. 10.1038/s41572-020-00240-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Koulouris A, Tsagkaris C, Spyrou V, Pappa E, Troullinou A, Nikolaou M. Hepatocellular Carcinoma: An Overview of the Changing Landscape of Treatment Options. J Hepatocell Carcinoma (2021) 8:387–401. 10.2147/JHC.S300182 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brown MT, Andrade J, Radhakrishna H, Donaldson JG, Cooper JA, Randazzo PA. ASAP1, a Phospholipid-dependent Arf GTPase-Activating Protein that Associates with and Is Phosphorylated by Src. Mol Cel Biol (1998) 18(12):7038–51. 10.1128/mcb.18.12.7038 - DOI - PMC - PubMed