Overexpressed pepsinogen C is associated with poor prognosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma: a tissue microarray study

Hong Chen,1 Hai-Rong Zhu,2 Xiang-Nan Yu,2 Xuan Shi,2 Enkhnaran Bilegsaikhan,2 Hong-Ying Guo,2 Ren-Zheng Huang,2 Tao-Tao Liu,2 Xi-Zhong Shen,2–4 Ji-Min Zhu2,31Department of Endocrinology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Gastroenterologyand Hepatology, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Shanghai Institute of Liver Disease, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: Aberrant expression of pepsinogen C (PGC) has been observed in human cancers. However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be established. The goal of this study is to illustrate PGC expression and to evaluate its clinical relevance in HCC.Materials and methods: PGC expression was examined in 75 pairs of HCC and adjacent non-tumor tissues using tissue microarray. The correlations between its expression and clinical parameters were also analyzed.Results: PGC overexpression was significantly associated with larger tumor size (≥5 cm; P=0.017) and incomplete encapsulation (P