Abstract 1799: Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-1 (SHP-1) is overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma.
Authors: Lin Ping-Yi , Chen Yao-Li , Chu Pei-Yi , Chen Kuen-Feng 
Published: August 2014

Purpose. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between SHP-1 phosphatase activity and clinicopathological characteristics in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods. Patients. Between July 2011 and August 2012, 86 patients who underwent surgical hepatectomy resection at Changhua Christian Hospital were enrolled retrospectively. This study was approved by the Institutional of Review Board. For each patient, the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma was confirmed by pathology reports. The clinical data of all patients were obtained through chart review. The data included hepatitis B or C status and the levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). Histological differentiation and pathological staging were studied regarding the 7th American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) cancer staging manual. Further analysis with standard immunohistochemistry and tissue microarray, which used 86 paraffin-embedded paired specimens of HCC. Immunopositivity was assessed by two pathologists who were blinded to the clinical information. SHP-1 immunoreactivity was scored as negative (0), weak (1), moderate (2), and strong expression (3), respectively. A final immunohistochemical score was calculated by the percentages of stained cells and the intensities of the staining. Statistical Analysis. The patients were classified into two subgroups based on the expression of SHP-1. Categorical variables were compared using the χ2 test or Fisher exact test when appropriate. For continuous variables, Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine the differences between two subgroups in terms of the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with HCC. P values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. All statistical analysis was performed with SPSS for Windows Version 16.0 (SPSS Inc; Chicago, IL, USA). Preliminary Results. A total of 86 patients were enrolled in this study. The mean age among patients was 63 years (SD, 11 years) and most of them were male (69.8%). Regarding the clinicopathological characteristics of the two subgroups based on their SHP-1 gene expression status. There were no statistical differences between the two subgroups regarding age, gender, tumor size, HbsAg, HCV and TNM stage. However, the variables of AFP levels and histological grade were found to be statistically significant. Conclusions. In the present study, we performed immunohistochemical staining of SHP-1 in a tissue array of 86 paired specimens from HCC patients. SHP-1 was found overexpressed in the tissues. Addtionally, there were no statistical differences in clinicopathological data except AFP levels and histological grade. However, the role of SHP-1 in tumorigenesis is still unknown. With this preliminary finding, we suggest that it is essential to conduct a further study to clarify the tumorigenesis pathways of SHP-1 and to follow up the prognostic outcomes among these HCC patients.

Citation Format: Ping-Yi Lin, Yao-Li Chen, Pei-Yi Chu, Kuen-Feng Chen. Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-1 (SHP-1) is overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1799. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1799