High Beclin-1 and ARID1A expression corelates with poor survival and high recurrence in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a histopathological retrospective study

• Main Authors: Chao Bi, Mei Liu, Weiqi Rong, Fan Wu, Yang Zhang, Shengtao Lin, Yunhe Liu, Jianxiong Wu, Liming Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2019-03-01
• Series: BMC Cancer
• Subjects: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; Beclin-1; ARIDIA; IDH1; CA9
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12885-019-5429-3

Abstract Background Although surgical resection provides a cure for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), the risk of mortality and recurrence remains high. Several biomarkers are reported to be associated with the prognosis of ICC, including Beclin-1, ARID1A, carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9) and isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), but results are inconsistent. Therefore, a histopathological retrospective study was performed to simultaneously investigate the relationship of these four potential biomarkers with clinicopathological parameters and their prognostic values in patients with ICC. Methods A total of 113 patients with ICC were enrolled from Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between January 1999 and June 2015. The expression of Beclin-1, ARID1A, IDH1 and CA9 were determined by immunohistochemical staining. The prognostic values of the four biomarkers were analyzed by Cox regression and the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Beclin-1, ARID1A, CA9 and IDH1 were highly expressed in ICC tumor tissues. Higher mortality was positively associated with Beclin-1 expression (HR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.09–5.24) and higher recurrence was positively associated with ARID1A expression (HR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.06–2.78). Neither CA9 nor IDH1 expression was significantly associated with mortality or disease recurrence. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that ICC patients with higher Beclin-1 and ARID1A expression had a lower survival rate and a worse recurrence rate than patients with low Beclin-1 and ARID1A expression (p < 0.05). Conclusions High Beclin-1 and ARIDIA expression are strongly associated with poor prognosis in ICC patients, and thus Beclin-1 and ARID1A should be simultaneously considered as potential prognostic biomarkers for ICC patients.