Increased expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor predicts poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal disease worldwide. In this study, we sought to explore the expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) and its prognostic value in HCC. The expressions of IGF-1R mRNA and protein were estimated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry assays, respectively. The association between IGF-1R expression and clinicopathologic characteristic of patients with HCC was analyzed through Chi-squared test. Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox analysis were performed to analyze prognostic value of IGF-1R in HCC. The IGF-1R was significantly upregulated in HCC tissues at both mRNA and protein levels compared with adjacent normal ones (P<.01). Its expression was associated with tumor node metastasis stage (P=.037) and lymph node metastasis (P=.027) of patients with HCC. Patients with HCC with high expression of IGF-1R had worse overall survival than those with low expression. IGF-1R might be a potential prognostic biomarker for HCC (hazard ratio [HR]=1.912, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.023-3.572, P=.042). The IGF-1R expression level is upregulated in HCC tissues and may act as a prognostic biomarker for the disease.