A new study suggests that Capn4, a protein involved in cell migration, is associated with liver cancer recurrence and metastasis after liver transplantation.
Capn4 could potentially be used as a biomarker for diagnosis and a target for therapy. These findings are in the February issue of Hepatology , a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The article is also available online at Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
Patients with liver cancer (also known as hepatocellular carcinoma) often undergo liver transplantation in an attempt to rid their bodies of the disease. Unfortunately, the cancer recurs in some patients and even metastasizes to other parts of the body, making their prognosis poor. It would be extremely useful to be able to identify patients at increased risk for recurrence. Proteomic technology could help, by identifying molecular markers that reveal a tumor's potential to spread.
Researchers, led by Jia Fan of the Liver Cancer Institute in Shanghai, utilized the technology to study liver cancer cells in search of proteins associated with recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplantation. They identified 149 proteins, including 52 that had changes in expression. Additional tests focused their interest on Capn4. They examined it further to determine its association with clinical outcomes of liver cancer patients who undergo transplantation.