Impact of bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) and intestine-specific homeobox (ISX) expression on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma' for better clarity

Epigenetic regulation is important for cancer tumor metastasis and progression, including lung and liver cancer. However, the mechanism of epigenetic regulation in liver cancer leaves much to be discussed. According to a previous study, p300/CBP-associated factor (PCAF) mediated epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promotes cancer metastasis by recruiting intestine-specific homeobox (ISX) and bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) in lung cancer. To figure out whether the three genes are also expressed in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or not, and their correlation with patients’ outcome, BRD4, PCAF, and ISX messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels in 377 patients with HCC were investigated using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and confocal fluorescence imaging. The correlation of the gene expression (PCAF, ISX, and BRD4) in liver cancer is also being investigated. Here, we show that the mRNA expression of PCAF, BRD4, and ISX in 377 paired specimens from patients with HCC, and the adjacent normal tissues exhibited a tumor-specific expression pattern, highly correlated with disease pathogenesis, patient survival time, progression stage, and poor prognosis. The results show that ISX and BRD4 can potentially be a target for improving the survival rate.