HAX-1 is overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma and promotes cell proliferation.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver tumor. Due to the asymptomatic nature of early HCC and lack of effective screening strategies, 80% of patients present with advanced HCC at the time of diagnosis. Novel molecular marker identification will be valuable for effective diagnosis and treatment. In this study we reported HCLS1-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) is overexpression in HCC in human HCC sample. Furthermore, we provided evidence that HAX-1 expression positively correlated with that of Ki67 in patient sample. Statistic analysis indicated that HAX-1 expression level significantly correlated with clinic outcome of HCC. Cell based assay revealed that knockdown of HAX-1 inhibits cell proliferation. This result suggests that HAX-1 can be a novel molecular marker for HCC.