Objective To investigate the significance of XAGE-1bmRNA expression in the blood specimens of patients with primary liver cancer, cirrhosis and benign liver diseases and in healthy individuals. Methods Venous blood specimens of patients with primary liver cancer (n= 125), cirrhosis (n= 23), benign liver diseases (n= 34) and healthy individuals (n = 41 ) were collected. XAGE-1b mRNA was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Results The expression levels of XAGE-1b mRNA in patients with primary liver cancer, cirrhosis, benign liver diseases and healthy in dividuals were 3.72 (0.93, 10.2) ×10-5, 0 (0, 0. 56) ×10-5, 0 (0, 0)×10-5, 0 (0, 0) ×10-5, respectively. The XAGE-1b mRNA expression in patients with primary liver cancer was obviously higher than the patients with cirrhosis, benign liver diseases and in healthy individuals. The expression levels for patients with cirrhosis was higher than patients with benign liver diseases and in healthy individuals. The expression levels for patients with benign liver diseases and healthy individuals were similar. With a optimal cut-off value of 8. 385 × 10-7 , the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of XAGE-lb mRNA for diagnosing primary liver cancer were 80. 0%, 89.8%, 90.9% and 77.9% respectively. The positive rates for patients with primary liver cancer and cirrhosis were 80.0% and 30.4% respectively. Conclusion XAGE-lb mRNA can be used as a tumor marker for primary liver cancer. It contributes to the differentiation between primary liver cancer, cirrhosis and benign liver diseases.

Background and purpose:Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a peptide that participates in many biological processes by stimulating the downstream signaling pathways through their interaction with IGF-1 re-ceptor (IGF-1R) and insulin receptor (IR). Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are a group of functional proteins which participate in the biological processes of proliferation and migration in many kinds of cancers and have become a hot area of cancer research. The study aimed to investigate the effects of silencingIGF-1R gene on the expression level ofBMP2 gene, and the cell proliferation and apoptosis of SMMC7721 cells.Methods:The RNAi plasmid targetingIGF-1R gene was constructed and transfected into SMMC7721 cells. Then the inhibition effect on the expression level of IGF-1R and BMP2 gene was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. The SMMC7721 growth curve and cell apoptosis were detected by MTT assay and flow cytometry after they were transfected with RNAi plasmid.Results:The RNAi plasmid targetingIGF-1R gene was constructed successfully. The inhibition efficiencies at mRNA expression levels were 68.9% and 80.7% (IGF-1R gene), 79.5% and 83.3% (BMP2 gene), respectively, after transfection with IGF-1R-siRNA-1 and IGF-1R-siRNA-2 plasmid (P<0.05). The inhibition efficiencies at protein levels were 46.1% and 62.1% (IGF-1R gene,P<0.05), 42.5% and 60.9% (BMP2 gene,P<0.05), respectively. The results of MTT growth curve showed that the proliferation rate in the transfected SMMC7721 cells was significantly slower than that in the control group (P<0.05). The proportion of apoptotic cells in transfected groups was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion:SilencingIGF-1R gene can downregulate the expression ofBMP2 gene at different levels that results in inhibition of cell proliferation and promotion of apoptosis in SMMC7721 cells.