RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Increased Copy Number of the Gene Encoding SF3B4 Indicates Poor Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma JF Anticancer Research JO Anticancer Res FD International Institute of Anticancer Research SP 2139 OP 2144 VO 36 IS 5 A1 TOMOHIRO IGUCHI A1 HISATERU KOMATSU A1 TAKAAKI MASUDA A1 SHO NAMBARA A1 SHINYA KIDOGAMI A1 YUSHI OGAWA A1 QINGJIANG HU A1 TOMOKO SAITO A1 HIDENARI HIRATA A1 SHOTARO SAKIMURA A1 RYUTARO UCHI A1 NAOKI HAYASHI A1 SHUHEI ITO A1 HIDETOSHI EGUCHI A1 KEISHI SUGIMACHI A1 YOSHIHIKO MAEHARA A1 KOSHI MIMORI YR 2016 UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/36/5/2139.abstract AB Background/Aim: Defects in alternative splicing contribute to carcinogenesis, cancer progression and chemoresistance. The spliceosome pathway, including SF3B4, a component of spliceosomal complex is suggested to play a role in progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the clinical relevance of SF3B4 in HCC remains unknown. Patients and Methods: SF3B4 expression was evaluated by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in 72 HCC samples and non-cancerous liver samples. The relationship between the DNA copy number and SF3B4 expression levels was investigated using TCGA datasets. Results: SF3B4 expression was significantly higher in cancerous than in non-cancerous tissues and positively correlated with SF3B4 DNA copy number. High SF3B4 expression is significantly associated with intrahepatic metastasis and poor prognosis. These results were consistent with data from the public datasets. Conclusion: Overexpression of SF3B4, that is due to DNA copy number increase, is suggested to play a role in progression of HCC.