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

BackgroundAlthough 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.MethodsA 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.ResultsBeclin-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).ConclusionsHigh 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.