Objective: To test the expression of RIN1 in hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and study its clinicopathological significance and mechanism.
Methods: RIN1 mRNA in 36 HCC tissues was analyzed using real-time PCR (RT-PCR). The expression of RIN1 was examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 110 HCC specimens. The relationship between the protein expression and prognosis was analyzed. Transwell was used to test invasion ability of HCC cell lines which were transfected with the expression vector pEGFP-N1-RIN1.
Results: RIN1 mRNA expression levels was much lower in tumor tissues than that in their corresponding non-cancerous tissues (χ(2) = 7.430, P = 0.026). RIN1 protein was lowly expressed in liver cancer samples (69.1%) and correlated with poor survival (6.46%) (χ(2) = 13.808, P < 0.05). Transwell assays show that RIN1 overexpression can inhibit invasion ability of HepG2 cells (t = 8.975 and 9.522, both P < 0.05). RIN1 expression and ABL2 and E calcium protein were positively correlated (r = 0.898 and 0.912, P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with MMP-9 (r = -0.933, P = 0.002).
Conclusions: RIN1 expression was down-regulated in HCC and low expression of RIN1 foreshows poor prognosis of HCC patients. RIN1 overexpression can inhibit invasion ability of HepG2 cells.