Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to explore the implication of cysteinyl aspartate specific protease-3(caspase-3), decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) expression and small nucleolar host gene 12 (SNHG12) mRNA level in cancerous tissues of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods 68 patients with HCC were enrolled in our hospital between May 2016 and May 2019, and all underwent hepatectomy. The expressions of caspase-3 and DcR3 proteins in cancerous and adjacent liver tissues were detected by EnVision, and the SNHG12 mRNA level was assayed by RT-qPCR. The risk factors impacting prognosis of patients with HCC was analyzed by multivariate Logistic regression. Results The positive rate of caspase-3 in cancerous tissues of patients with HCC was significantly lower than that in adjacent liver tissues (47.1% vs. 77.9%, P<0.05), while the positive rate of DcR3 was 61.8%, the SNHG12 mRNA load was (2.9±0.8), significantly higher than [33.8% and (1.6±0.5), P<0.05] in adjacent tissues; the cancerous caspase-3 positive rate in 18 patients with lymph node metastasis was 33.3%, significantly lower than 62.0%(P＜0.05)in 50 patients without, while the DcR3 positive rate was 88.9%, significantly higher than 50.0% in patients without, the SNHG12 mRNA load was (2.6±0.4), significantly higher than [(1.5±0.3), P＜0.05] in patients without, and the SNHG12 mRNA level in 45 patients with greater than 5 cm tumor was (2.7±0.4), significantly higher than [(1.4±0.3), P＜0.05] in 23 patients with tumor less than 5 cm; at the end of follow-up, 30(44.1%) patients survived and 38 patients(55.9%) died; the multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that large tumor mass, with underlying liver cirrhosis, lymph node metastasis, with caspase-3 weak expression, DcR3 strong expression and high SNHG12 mRNA load were the risk factors impacting the prognosis of patients with HCC after hepatectomy. Conclusion The down-regulated expression of caspase-3 and the intensified expression of DcR3 protein in cancerous tissues of patients with HCC hint the carcinogenesis, which might provide some clues for the prevention and management of the tumor.

Key words: Hepatoma, Cysteinyl aspartate specific protease-3, Decoy receptor 3, Small nucleolar host gene 12