ABSTRACT
Objective This study explored the expression of polyclonal protein SUZ12 in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma(ICC),and its role in predicting the survival and treatment of ICC patients.Methods The expression of SUZ12 and p16INK4a was detected by immunohistochemical assay in 207 liver tissue samples including ICC patients,BilIN-1,-2,-3 and non-tumor-like cholangiocarcinoma.The expression of these proteins was assessed to be related to the pathological characteristics of the ICC patients receiving chemotherapy and the outcome of survival as well as the subsequent chemotherapy response.Results The expression level of SUZ12 was gradually increased from non-neoplastic bile duct tissue to BilIN-1,-2,-3 and ICC.The expression of p16INK4a protein was expressed in non-neoplastic-like cholangiocarcinoma,but it decreased gradually in BilIN-1,-2,-3 and ICC tissues.SUZ12 expression was associated with undifferentiated ICC,lymph node metastasis and advanced cancer.Kaplan-Meier curve analysis showed that ICC patients with high expression of SUZ12 had a significant reduction in overall survival and disease-free survival in comparison with ICC patients with the low expression of SUZ12.SUZ12 expression was significantly associated with overall survival of patients receiving adjuvant gemcitabine-based chemotherapy(AGC).Conclusion SUZ12 expression is able to predict the overall survival and disease-free survival of ICC patients with adjuvant gemcitabine-based chemotherapy.