Polo-like kinase 1, a new therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Correlation between polo-like kinase-1 gene expression and clinicopathological parameters in 56 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Clinicopathological parameters	n	Relative PLK1 gene expression (mean ± SE)	P value
Age (yr)
< 65	42	18.35 ± 2.95	0.5701
≥ 65	14	16.15 ± 5.11
Sex
Male	49	17.24 ± 2.74	0.4361
Female	7	21.72 ± 6.83
Histologic type of tumor
Well differentiated	2	14.00 ± 13.10	0.8462
Moderately differentiated	41	17.39 ± 2.92
Poorly differentiated	13	19.69 ± 5.87
Liver cirrhosis
Present	44	16.05 ± 2.42	0.4971
Absent	12	24.22 ± 7.83
Pathological stage
I	1	5.68	0.8492
II	5	14.11 ± 6.67
III	32	17.68 ± 2.93
IV	18	19.72 ± 5.74

¹P value was determined by the Mann-Whitney U test;

²P value was determined by the Kruskal-Wallis test. PLK1 gene expression in every hepatocellular carcinoma tissues was quantified relative to the non-tumor tissues counterparts using 2^-∆∆Ct method. PLK1: Polo-like kinase-1.