High expression of TRAF4 in hepatocelullar carcinoma as an independent negative survival and recurrence predictor

Objective: To identify potential tumor markers for the development and recurrence of hepatocelullar carcinoma(HCC), this research studied the relationship between the expression of the tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 4(TRAF4) and tumor angiogenesis together with its survival time of HCC patients. Methods: The expressions of TRAF4,vascular endothelial growth factor and CD34 were performed upon 90 patients with curative liver resection between August 2006 and November 2009 by immunohistochemical method in locally advanced HCC and adjacent non-tumoral liver. The expression of TRAF4 was determined by the Spearman rank correlation. Their prognostic factors on disease free survival(DFS) and overall survival(OS) were guaranteed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. The detection of the levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and CD34 was fulfilled in 90 cases of HCC. Results: TRAF4 expression was both significantly higher in HCC than in surrounding non-tumor tissues(57.8% vs. 22.2 %; P<0.001) and significantly correlated with tumor size and tumor staging. High TRAF4 was correlated with reduced DFS rate(P=0.001) and overall OS rate(P<0.001) and were displayed in Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Conclusions: TRAF4 is involved with multifarious clinicopathologic features.TRAF4 expression, as an independent adverse prognostic factor, DFS and OS in HCC, is associated with increased tumor angiogenesis. The combined detection of TRAF4 in locally advanced HCC is a trustworthy predictive factor for the tumor development and recurrence.