Abstract: Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain leucine rich repeats containing pyrin domain 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in cancerous tissues of patients with primary liver cancer (PLC). Methods The tumorous specimens from 34 patients with PLC and 30 normal liver tissues from patients with cholelithiasis were obtained in our hospital between January 2017 and January 2018, and the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome were detected by immunohistochemistry. The NLRP3 mRNA levels were detected by RT-PCR. Serum IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α levels were assayed by ELISA. The NLRP3 inflammasome, E-cadherin, Vimentin and cysteine protease 1 (Caspase-1) expression were detected by Western blot. Results The positive rate of NLRP3 in cancerous tissues was 76.5%, significantly higher than 23.3%(P<0.05) in normal liver tissues; the NLRP3 mRNA level in cancerous tissues was (-2.58±0.35), much higher than [(0.00±0.24), P<0.05] in normal liver tissues; serum IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α levels in patients with PLC were (17.25±3.36) pg/ml, (60.32±8.14) pg/ml and (24.68±3.58) pg/ml, significantly higher than [(10.35±1.25) pg/ml, (33.21±4.20) pg/ml and (10.36±2.54) pg/ml, respectively, P<0.05] in patients with cholelithiasis; the expression of E-cadherin in normal liver was (1.2±0.15), significantly higher than [(0.41±0.04), P<0.05], while the hepatic expression of caspase-1 and vimentin were (0.21±0.03) and (0.42±0.06), significantly lower than [(1.49±0.12) and (1.51±0.14), respectively, P<0.05] in normal liver tissues. Conclusion NLRP3 inflammasome is highly expressed in patients with PLC, and the up-regulation might lead to inflammatory reactions and promote migration of cancer cells.

Key words: Hepatoma, Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain leucine rich repeats containing pyrin domain 3, Inflammasome, Expression