Kim H, et al. - Researchers investigated whether single-stranded DNA binding protein 2 (SSBP2) expression (a subunit of the ssDNA-binding complex that is involved in the maintenance of genome stability) in hepatocellular carcinoma has any clinicopathologic significance. For this purpose, they examined the correlations between SSBP2 expression and various clinicopathologic characteristics by analyzing 21 normal liver parenchyma and 213 hepatocellular carcinoma tissues with corresponding adjacent non-neoplastic tissues. Using immunohistochemistry, SSBP2 expression was assessed. The definition of positive expression was more than 10% of the tumor cells showing nuclear staining. The role of SSBP2 in cell growth and migration was also determined. They found that, on immunohistochemistry, SSBP2 was expressed by minority of hepatocellular carcinomas, whereas normal hepatocytes were negative. A significant association of SSBP2-positive hepatocellular carcinomas with aggressive phenotypes and poor clinical outcome was observed.