Abstract：Objective: To investigate the effect of gender on endoplasmic reticulumstress(ERstress) and apoptosis signals in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Clinical data was collected and retrospectively analyzed from 80 routine hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients, including 40 male and 40 female. Normal liver parenchymal tissues were obtained as controls from 10 Chinese patients with hemangioma.The clinical typing of tumors was determined according to the TNM classification system. The histological grade of tumor differentiation was evaluated by the Edmondson grading system and liver function was assessed by ChildPugh score system. Characteristics of ERstress and apoptosis signal in patients and controls were analyzed by Western blotting. Results: The levels of ERstress signal factors including glucose regulated protein 78(GRP78),GRP94,spliced X boxbinding protein 1(sXBP1), activating transcription factor 6(ATF6),inositol requiring enzyme 1(IRE1α),C/EBP homologous protein(CHOP) were elevated significantly compared with control(P＜0.05). Meanwhile, the level of Caspase3 was increased in HCC patients.The clinic features,such as stage, HBV infection, liver cirrhosis and Child grade had on obvious effect on ERstress signal.Only had age affected on GRP78 levels rather than other ERstress signal factors. Interestingly,the levels of sXBP1, ATF6, CHOP and Caspase3 elevated significantly, while GRP78 level reduced in male patients compared with those of the female(P＜0.05). ATF6 was also reduced significantly in poorlydifferentiated patients(P＜0.05).Further studies indicated that differentiation had no effect on ERstress and apoptosis signals. Conclusion: ERstress and apoptosis signals were induced and GRP78 level was increased in male HCC patients. These results provided a preliminary data for personalized therapy based on gender.
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2017, Vol. 27 
