Low LKB1 Correlates with Poor Prognosis in HCC Patients Undergoing Hepatectomy

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common worldwide tumor and is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the world and in China (Cha et al., 2012; Takeuchi et al., 2012; Yang et al., 2012). Various factors have been associated with the initiation and development of HCC,including chronic infection of hepatitis viruses;age;sex;alcohol abuse;aflatoxin; diabetes mellitus and hereditary metabolic liver diseases (Zha et al., 2012). However,there is a lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers in the clinic, the existing early-stage screening strategies have limited benefits to the detection of HCC until multicentric recurrence and intrahepatic metastasis (Li et al., 2012). So even with advanced treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, HCC still presents a poor prognosis.Therefore, it is critical to identify important prognostic factors and to develop novel therapeutic strategies targeting HCC. Being similar to most other kinds of tumor,hepatocarcinogenesis is a complex process,such as the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes,involving genic alterations and mutations, which ultimately lead to the malignant transformation of hepatocytes (Zha et al., 2012). The serine–threonine kinase liver kinase B1 (LKB1;