Abstract: Objective To investigate the expression of histone deacetylase 2(HDAC2) in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) tissues and its relationship with prognosis. Methods The expression of HDAC2 protein in hepatocellular carcinoma and corresponding adjacent normal tissues were detected by the Western blot and immunohistochemical methods, and the relationship between the expression level of HDAC2 and clinicopathological parameters and prognosis was analyzed. Results The expression of HDAC2 protein in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues(P=0.025）, and its expression level was correlated with tumor differentiation, vascular invasion and relapse (all P<0.05). Multivariable Cox analysis showed that the high expression of HDAC2 was an independent risk factor for overall survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HR=12.255, 95%CI:2.865-52.411, P=0.001). Conclusion HDAC2 is highly expressed in HCC tissues, and patients with high expression of HDAC2 have poor prognosis, implying that it can be a molecular marker for prognosis of HCC.

Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Histone deacetylase 2, Prognosis