Effect of liver kinase B1 on biological function of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and its relationship with postoperative prognosis

Objective To investigate the effect of liver kinase B1 (LKB1) on the biological function of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and its relationship with prognosis. Methods LKB1 overexpression lentiviral vector was constructed by molecular biology technology, and the MHCC97H cells with high metastasis were infected by lentiviruses. LKB1 control MHCC97H cell lines (control group) and LKB1 overexpression MHCC97H cell lines (observation group) were established. The proliferation ability of cells was analyzed by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay in control group and observation group. The invasion ability of cells was analyzed by Transwell in control group and observation group. 142 patients with liver cancer from June 2012 to June 2018 in our hospital were selected as subjects. The expression of LKB1 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and the recurrence rate of patients was analyzed in LKB1 high expression and low expression groups. Results The LKB1 overexpression MHCC97H cell line was successfully constructed in this study. As compared with control group, the proliferative capacity of MHCC97H cells in observation group was significantly decreased (P<0.05). As compared with control group, the invasive ability of cells in the observation group [(28.32±7.32) cells] was significantly decreased (P<0.05). Immunohistochemical analysis showed there were 98 cases (69.01%) in the LKB1 low expression group and 44 cases (30.99%) in the LKB1 high expression group. The 2- and 3-year recurrence rate was 27.27% and 47.62% in the high-expression group, and 40.82% and 68.37% in the low-expression group, respectively. There was significant difference between the two groups (Log-rank=2.013, P<0.05). Conclusion LKB1 is related to the proliferation and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells, and the recurrence rate of patients with high LKB1 expression is significantly increased after 5 years. Key words: Liver kinase B1; Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Proliferation; Invasion; Recurrence