Elevated HABP1 protein expression correlates with progression and poor survival in patients with gastric cancer

Background: Hyaluronic acid-binding protein 1 (HABP1/gC1qR/p32) has been recently implicated in oncogenesis and cancer progression in various malignancies; however, its clinical role in gastric cancer (GC) is still unclear. Patients and methods: First, HABP1 expression was determined by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. Then, we evaluated the expression of HABP1 and its clinical significance in tumor tissues from 181 patients with GC. Results: Expression of HABP1 protein in GC tissues was noticeably higher than that in adjacent nonneoplastic tissues (P=0.018). Increased HABP1 expression was significantly associated with tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) stage (P=0.006), depth of invasion (P=0.001), lymph node metastasis (P=0.001), liver metastasis (P=0.024), and peritoneum metastasis (P=0.009). Patients with high expression of HABP1 had poor overall survival rate (P < 0.001). In addition, histologic grade (P=0.017), TNM stage (P < 0.001), Borrmann grouping (P < 0.001), depth of invasion (P < 0.001), lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001), liver metastasis (P=0.010), and tumor size (P < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that HABP1 (P=0.004), histologic grade (P=0.047), TNM stage (P < 0.001), Borrmann grouping (P < 0.001), and liver metastasis (P=0.038) were independent factors for overall survival in patients with GC. Conclusion: These findings demonstrated that HABP1 was an indicator for GC progression and poor survival, which highlighted its potential role as a therapeutic target for GCs.