To investigate expression of plasmalemmal vesicle-associated protein (PLVAP) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and its relationship with clinicopathological features.

Tissue specimens were collected from 108 patients with HCC in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2013 to December 2015. 92 patients were male and 16 female, aged (48±5) years on average. The informed consents of all patients were obtained and the local ethical committee approval was received. The expression level of PLVAP was analyzed based on the data of HCC in public databases. The expression level of PLVAP mRNA in HCC and paracarcinoma tissues was detected by RT-PCR, and the relationship between the expression of PLVAP and clinicopathological characteristics of HCC was analyzed. The relationship between PLVAP and prognosis of HCC patients was investigated with the data from cancer genome atlas (TCGA) database. The expression levels of PLVAP mRNA between HCC tissues and para-carcinoma tissues were compared by Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test. Correlation analysis was performed by Chi-square test. Survival analysis was conducted by Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Log-rank test.

According to Human Protein Atlas and Oncomine databases, the expression level of PLVAP in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in normal liver tissues. RT-PCR showed that the median expression level of PLVAP mRNA in HCC tissues was 0.172(0.004-0.607), significantly higher compared with 0.091(0.002-0.513) in para-carcinoma tissues (Z=6.839, P<0.05). The expression level of PLVAP in HCC patients was significantly correlated with TB, tumor size and microvascular invasion (χ2=4.183, 3.924, 6.075; P<0.05). In PLVAP high expression group, the overall survival and tumor-free survival were 58.8(0.5-107.0) and 42.2(0.1-67.2) months, where no significant difference from 55.7(0.2-120.7) and 20.9(0.1-109.4) months in PLVAP low expression group (χ2=0.054, 0.065; P>0.05).

The expression level of PLVAP is significantly correlated with the development and progression of HCC, whereas it is probably not associated with the prognosis of HCC patients.