The expression of DAP3 and PDCD10 in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue and their correlation with invasion and me-tastasis genes and prognostic value

Liu Ke; Lin Chuan; Hu Chuanfei; Pan Tianmeng

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1671-6450.2026.03.012

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression levels of death-associated protein 3(DAP3)and programmed cell death molecule 10(PDCD10)in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)tissues,analyze their correlation with invasion and me-tastasis indicators,and evaluate their predictive value for the prognosis of HCC patients.Methods A total of 148 HCC tissue specimens surgically resected from the Department of Oncology,Yibin First People's Hospital from February 2020 to February 2022 were selected.Immunohistochemistry was performed to detect the protein expression levels of DAP3 and PDCD10.Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of DAP3,PDCD10,and invasion and metasta-sis-related genes Snail,N-cadherin(N-cad),and E-cadherin(E-cad).The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to identify independent factors affecting the prognosis of HCC patients.Results The positive rate of DAP3 in cancer tissues[70.27％(104/148)vs.6.76％(10/148)]was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues;the positive rate of PDCD10 in cancer tissues[74.32％(110/148)vs.5.41％(8/148)]was also significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues(x2=126.058,146.619,both P＜0.001).The mRNA expression levels of DAP3,PDCD10,Snail,and N-cad were significantly increased in HCC cancer tissues,while E-cad mRNA expression was significantly decreased(t=52.620,48.361,55.643,39.695,28.074,all P＜0.001).The mRNA expression of DAP3 and PDCD10 in HCC tissues was positively correlated with Snail and N-cad mRNA(r=0.668,0.710;0.654,0.698,all P＜0.001),and negatively correlated with E-cad mRNA expression(r=-0.654,-0.725,all P＜0.001).The protein expression of DAP3 and PDCD10 in HCC tissues from pa-tients with CNLC stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ was significantly higher than that in patients with CNLC stage Ⅰ(x2=13.954/＜0.001,4.913/0.027).The 3-year overall survival rate of the DAP3-positive group was 34.62％(36/104),which was significantly lower than that of the DAP3-negative group(84.09％,37/44)(Log-rank x2=18.270,P＜0.001).The 3-year overall survival rate of the PDCD 10-positive group was 37.27％(41/110),which was significantly lower than that of the PDCD10-negative group(84.21％,32/38)(Log-rank x2=11.000,P=0.001).CNLC stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ,DAP3 positivity,and PDCD10 positivity were inde-pendent risk factors affecting the prognosis of HCC patients[HR(95％CI)=1.603(1.167-2.202),1.840(1.319-2.568),1.775(1.275-2.473)].Conclusion The elevated expression of DAP3 and PDCD10 in HCC is closely associated with tumor inva-sion and metastasis,and these proteins may serve as potential biomarkers for evaluating the prognosis of HCC patients.