Downregulation of huntingtin-associated protein 1 predicts poor prognosis in gastric cancer

Figure 1 Huntingtin-associated protein 1 expression in gastric cancer tissues. A: Western blot analysis of huntingtin-associated protein 1 (HAP1) expression in tumor tissues and normal adjacent mucosa; B: Relative HAP1 protein level in 20 matched pairs of gastric cancer tissues and adjacent mucosa. β-actin was the control. HAP1 expression was obviously lower in tumor tissues than in normal mucosa (P < 0.001); C: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction measurement of HAP1 mRNA in tumor tissues and normal adjacent mucosa; D: Relative HAP1 mRNA expression in 20 matched pairs of gastric cancer tissues and adjacent mucosa; mucosa from sample 1 was the reference. HAP1 was lower in tumor tissues than in normal mucosa (P < 0.001). Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase was used as a control. means ± SD are shown. HAP1: Huntingtin-associated protein 1; N: Normal adjacent mucosa; T: Tumor tissues.

Figure 2 Immunohistochemistry of huntingtin-associated protein 1 expression in gastric cancer tissues. A: Immunohistochemical staining of huntingtin-associated protein 1 (HAP1) expression in normal gastric mucosa (200 ×); B: HAP1 expression in gastric cancer tissue (200 ×); C: HAP1 expression is elevated in the normal gastric mucosa and downregulated in gastric cancer tissue (200 ×); D: HAP1 expression in metastatic lymph nodes (200 ×). Scale bars represent 100 μm. N: Normal gastric mucosa; L: Lymph nodes; Ca: Gastric cancer tissue.

Figure 3 Relationship between huntingtin-associated protein 1 level and overall survival of patients with gastric cancer. A: At the early stage (n = 34), huntingtin-associated protein 1 (HAP1) protein levels in cancer tissues were not correlated with overall survival (P = 0.669); B: At the advanced stage (n = 90), low HAP1 level in cancer tissues was correlated with poor overall survival (P = 0.006); C: At all stages (n = 124), low HAP1 level in cancer tissues was related to poor overall survival (P = 0.004). HAP1: Huntingtin-associated protein 1.