Glutaminase 2-a valuable predictor for hepatocellular carcinoma patients ’ survival

Glutaminase2 is a p53 target gene and is known to play an important role in energy metabolism. Glutaminase2 has been reported to be downregulated in human hepatocellular carcinomas. However, the prognostic value of glutaminase2 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma patients is still unclear. Here, we investigated the prognostic value of glutaminase2 expression in liver cancer patients. Glutaminase2 mRNA expression was determined in tumor tissues and non-tumor tissues by real-time PCR. For evaluation of the prognostic value of glutaminase2 expression to each clinicopathologic factor, Kaplan-Meier method and Cox’s Proportional Hazard Model (univariate analysis and multivariate analysis all were used) were employed. A simple risk scoredevised by using significant variables obtained from Cox’s regression analysis for further predicting the HCC patients’ prognosis. We observed reduced glutaminase2 mRNA level in cancerous tissues in comparison to non-cancerous tissues. Glutaminase2 expression was also significantly correlated with hepatitis B surface antigen expression, histological grade and tumor stage. More importantly, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with high glutaminase2 expression had longer disease-free survival and overall survival compared with those with low expression of glutaminase2. Cox’s regression analysis indicated that glutaminase2 expression, histological grade, and tumor stage might be significant prognostic factors for disease-free survival and overall survival. Finally, we found that patients whose total score more than 2 are more likely to die or relapse than patients whose total score less than 2. Glutaminase2 expression in liver tumors is a potential prognostic tool for patients. The risk scoring system is useful in predicting survival of liver cancer patients after tumor resection.