To detect the methylation status of acetyl-CoA carboxylase β (ACACB) gene in hepatocellular carcinoma and explore its clinical value.

90 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC group) and 45 patients with benign liver diseases (control group) were selected as the research objects. Oligonucleotides (MON, UMON, and CON) were transfected into Huh7 cells, respectively. Methyl-specific PCR was used to detect the methylation of ACACB gene. The differences of ACACB gene’s methylation rate under different clinicopathological factors were studied and compared. CCK-8 was used to detect the cell proliferation in MON group, UMON group and CON group; cell migration and invasion numbers in the three groups were detected with Transwell.

The methylation rate of ACACB gene in tumor tissue of HCC group was significantly higher than that of paracancerous tissue and control group (71.1% vs 6.7% and 4.4%, respectively, P<0.05). ACACB gene was methylated in HepG2 and Hep3B cells. Patients with poor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, maximum tumor diameter≥ 10 cm, the number of tumors≥ 2, and stageⅢ had significantly higher ACACB gene methylation rates than patients with moderately well-differentiated patients, no lymph node metastasis, maximum tumor diameter <10 cm, one tumor and stageⅠ+Ⅱ (all P<0.05). The median survival time of patients with ACACB gene methylation was significantly shorter than that of ACACB gene unmethylation patients [(34.7±5.2) months vs (38.1±5.7) months, P<0.05]. MON oligonucleotides could induce ACACB gene methylation in Huh7 cells, the absorbance value on d3, d5, d7 cell and migration and invasion number of Huh7 cells in MON group were significantly higher than those in UMON group and CON group (all P<0.05).

The ACACB gene in hepatocellular carcinoma is in a hypermethylated state, which is related to the degree of tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, maximum tumor diameter, tumor number, TNM stage and survival time, providing evidences at the gene level for the assessment of the condition and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.