Abstract: Objective To explore the expression of Aurora kinase B (AURKB) and tumor protein P53 (TP53) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and their relationship with the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of the HCC patients. Methods Ualcan database was used for analyzing the expression of AURKB and TP53 in normal liver tissues and HCC tissues. A total of 95 HCC patients with stage II tumors who were diagnosed and treated from April 2015 to January 2018 were selected as the research objects. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) method was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC and the adjacent normal tissues. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between the mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC tissues and clinicopathological characteristics; Pearson method was used to analyze the correlation between AURKB and TP53 mRNA expression levels in HCC tissues; Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to analyze the relationship between the mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC tissues and the prognosis of HCC patients; COX regression analysis was used to identify the factors affecting the prognosis of HCC patients. Results The mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC tissues [5.00(2.12, 10.575)、19.91(12.77, 29.72)] in Ualcan database were higher than those in normal liver tissues [0.27(0.19, 0.88)、13.37(11.24, 15.29)](P<0.05). By Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR)method it was found that the mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC tissues [(1.82±0.61), (1.75±0.59)] were higher than those of the adjacent normal tissues [(1.01±0.34), (1.04±0.35)](P<0.05); the mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC tissues were positively correlated with tumor metastasis (P<0.05), and negatively correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation (P<0.05); the mRNA expression level of AURKB in HCC tissues was positively correlated with that of TP53 (P<0.05); the 36-month cumulative survival rate of HCC patients in the AURKB and TP53 high expression groups was lower than that in the AURKB and TP53 low expression groups (P<0.05); Lesion metastasis, AURKB and TP53 expression levels were all independent risk factors associated with the poor prognosis of HCC patients (P<0.05). Conclusion The mRNA expression levels of AURKB and TP53 in HCC tissues are relatively higher than those of the adjacent normal tissues, both of which are related to the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of HCC patients. AURKB and TP53 are expected to be indicators for evaluating the prognosis of HCC patients.

Key words: Aurora kinase B, Tumor protein P53, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Clinicopathological features, Prognosis