The relationship between RECK Gene Polymorphisms and the prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract Background The study was designed to examine the reversion inducing cysteine rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) levels in patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and assess its role in CCA prognosis. Methods Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to determine the expression of RECK mRNA in 127 pairs of CCA samples and controls. Chi-square test was conducted to analyze the effects of clinical features on RECK expression. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted to determine the overall survival rate of CCA patients with different RECK expression. The prognostic biomarkers for CCA patients were identified using the Cox regression analysis. Results Significantly down-regulated expression of RECK mRNA was determined in CCA tissues compared to noncancerous controls (P < 0.05). Chi-square test suggested reduced RECK expression was related with invasion depth (P = 0.026), differentiation (P = 0.025), lymphatic metastasis (P = 0.010) and TNM stage (P = 0.015). However, age, sex, tumor size and family history had no significant links with RECK expression (all, P > 0.05). The survival curves showed that patients with low RECK expression had a shorter overall survival rate than those with high RECK expression. Both the univariate analysis (P = 0.000, HR = 5.290, 95%CI = 3.195–8.758) and multivariate analysis (P = 0.000, HR = 5.376, 95%CI = 2.231–8.946) demonstrated that RECK was an independent biomarker for predicting the outcomes of CCA patients. Conclusions Taken together, the expression of RECK was down-regulated in CCA and it might be an efficient biomarker for CCA patients.