ObjectiveTo investigate the expressions of Patched-1 (Ptch1) and glioma-associated oncogene homologl (Gli1) protein of sonic hedgehog signaling pathway in cholangiocarcinoma tissues, and explore their correlations to the occurrence and development of cholangiocarcinoma. MethodsThe expressions of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein in 62 specimens of cholangiocarcinoma and its bile duct tissues adjacent to cancer were detected by immunohistochemistry, and their positive rate correlated with patients, age, tumor size, differentiation grade, tumor location, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, operation mode, and postoperative survival time were investigated by statistical analysis. ResultsThe positive rates of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein were significantly higher in cholangiocarcinoma than in tissues adjacent to cancer (74.2% vs. 14.5%, 88.7% vs. 9.7%, P < 0.05). The expressions of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein in cholangiocarcinoma had no correlation to patients age, tumor size, and tumor location (P > 0.05), but were correlated to the operation mode, differentiation grade, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, and postoperative survival time of patients (P < 0.05). ConclusionsThe elevated expressions of Ptch1 and Gli1 protein of Hh signaling pathway participated in the occurrence and development of cholangiocarcinoma. They may be ideal targets for therapy against cholangiocarcinoma.
Objective To explore the correlation of Gli1 expression with clinical characteristics and prognosis of liver cancer. Methods Such Databases as PubMed, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang Database and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were searched to collect cohort studies, which has published on the correlation between the expression of Gli1 and the clinical pathologic features of liver cancer and its prognostic value from the establishment of the databases to December 2016. Results Twelve studies with a total of 831 patients were included in this study. The high expression of Gli1 was associated with the tumor diameter >5 cm [relative risk (RR)=1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.08, 1.79)], clinical stage [RR=1.26, 95%CI (1.05, 1.51)], intrahepatic metastasis [RR=1.39, 95%CI (1.06, 1.83)] and venous invasion [RR=1.44, 95%CI (1.01, 2.04)], but the correlation of Gli1 expression was not significant with gender, histological differentiation, tumor diameter >3 cm, hepatitis B virus, cirrhosis and alpha fetoprotein. Meanwhile, the results of Meta-analysis showed that the higher Gli1 expression in liver cancer patients had a worse 3-/5-year overall survival rate and overall survival rate than those of the lower Gli1 expression group [3-year, RR=3.38, 95%CI (2.01, 5.67); 5-year, RR=1.51, 95%CI (1.19, 1.91); overall survival, RR=1.60, 95%CI (1.11, 2.30)]. And the higher Gli1 expression in liver cancer patients had a worse disease free survival rate than that in the lower Gli1 expression group [RR=1.89, 95%CI (1.35, 2.66)]. Conclusion The high expression of Gli1 is associated with poor prognostic outcome in liver cancer, and may be used as an important prognostic marker for patients with liver cancer.