Abstract: Background and purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the common malignancies in China. The mechanism of its occurrence is not yet clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 2 (MARK2) in hepatocellular carcinoma and its effect on the migration of hepatoma cells. Methods: The expression of MARK2 in HCC tissues was analyzed by tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. MARK2 gene eukaryotic expression vector and its empty vector were transfected into hepatoma HepG2 cells, and the expression of MARK2 protein after transfection was detected by Western blot. Transwell assay and cell scratch test were used to detect the effect of MARK2 on the migration ability of HepG2 cells. We analyzed MARK2 expression in liver cancer tissues and normal tissues using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and the relationship between MARK2 and clinicopathological features of liver cancer patients. Kaplan-Meier plotter, an online survival analysis software, was used to analyze the relationship between MARK2 expression and prognosis of liver cancer patients. Results: The expression of MARK2 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues. The high expression of MARK2 in HCC tissues was significantly associated with TNM stage and pathological grade (P<0.001). The survival analysis showed that the 5-year survival rate of MARK2 high expression patients was significantly lower than that of MARK2 low expression groups (P<0.01). After the MARK2 gene eukaryotic expression vector was transfected into HepG2 cells, the expression of MARK2 protein was up-regulated, and the migration ability of hepatoma cells was enhanced. Conclusion: MARK2 is highly expressed in HCC and promotes the migration of hepatoma cells.

Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Microtubule affinity-regulating kinase 2, Prognosis, Migration