Nuclear localization of β-catenin is an important prognostic factor in hepatoblastoma

✍ Scribed by Won Sang Park; Ro Ra Oh; Jik Young Park; Pum Joon Kim; Min Sun Shin; Jong Heun Lee; Hong Sug Kim; Sug Hyung Lee; Su Young Kim; Yong Gyu Park; Won Gun An; Han Seung Kim; Ja June Jang; Nam Jin Yoo; Jung Young Lee

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 272 KB
• Volume: 193
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-3417
• DOI: 10.1002/1096-9896(2000)9999:9999<::aid-path804>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

In this study, mutational and immunohistochemical analyses of b-catenin were performed in 30 hepatoblastomas, to assess the prevalence of alterations of the Wnt pathway with respect to clinicopathological parameters and survival. Four missense mutations of b-catenin (13.3%) were detected and there was strong immunoreactivity for b-catenin in the cytoplasm and/or the nucleus in 97% of hepatoblastomas. Nuclear and cytoplasmic staining was demonstrated in 19 of 30 tumours (63%), while ten revealed only cytoplasmic staining. Statistically, this nuclear b-catenin staining was significantly higher in the embryonal (Fisher exact test; p=0.00393) or undifferentiated type (p=0.00156) of hepatoblastoma than in the fetal type, but there was no difference between clinical stages I and II and clinical stages III and IV (p=0.175). Cumulative survival curves showed that nuclear b-catenin staining (generalized Wilcoxon test; p=0.0088), undifferentiated histological type (p=0.0305), and clinical stages III and IV (p=0.0107) were significantly correlated with shorter survival time in these patients. Moreover, Cox multivariate analysis provides evidence that nuclear b-catenin staining is the most important prognostic factor for survival (p=0.0090). It is therefore concluded that immunohistochemical analysis of b-catenin might be a useful clinical tool for estimating the prognosis for patients with hepatoblastoma.