Hepatoma-derived growth factor predicts unfavorable prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer

AIM: To evaluate the expression and clinical significance of hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated that HDGF overexpression correlates to the progression and poor prognosis in several kinds of cancers. However, the clinical significance and prognostic value of HDGF in EOC have not been investigated. METHODS: Expression of HDGF was visualized by immunohistology and then the cohort was divided into higher- and lower-expression groups. The correlation between HDGF and clinicopathologic factors was analyzed by χ(2) test. The prognostic value of HDGF was assessed by univariate analysis with Kaplan–Meier method, and by multivariate analysis with Cox-regression model. With experiments in vitro, HDGF expression in ovarian cancer cell lines was detected by immunoblotting. RESULTS: Higher HDGF expression rate was 52.76% in EOC. HDGF expression was significantly associated with lymphatic metastasis (P=0.006). Higher HDGF expression was closely correlated to poorer 5-year overall survival rate with univariate analysis (P=0.003), and was identified as an independent prognostic factor with multivariate analysis (P=0.007). With experiments in vitro, HDGF was proved to exist in all ovarian cancer cell lines with different expression levels. CONCLUSION: HDGF expression correlates to unfavorable prognosis and can be considered as an independent prognostic factor, indicating that HDGF may be a promising potential molecular drug target.