학술논문
Expression pattern of angiogenic factors and prognosis after hepatic resection in hepatocellular carcinoma: importance of angiopoietin-2 and hypoxia-induced factor-1a.
Document Type
Article
Author
Wada, Hiroshi; Nagano, Hiroaki; Yamamoto, Hirofumi; Yang, Yubo; Kondo, Motoi; Ota, Hideo; Nakamura, Masato; Yoshioka, Shinichi; Kato, Hitoshi; Damdinsuren, Bazarragchaa; Tang, Di; Marubashi, Sigeru; Miyamoto, Atsushi; Takeda, Yutaka; Umeshita, Koji; Nakamori, Shoji; Sakon, Masato; Dono, Keizo; Wakasa, Kenichi; Monden, Morito
Source
Subject
*LIVER cancer
*NEOVASCULARIZATION
*PROGNOSIS
*VASCULAR endothelium
*VASCULAR endothelial growth factors
*IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY
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Language
ISSN
1478-3223
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a hypervascular tumor and angiogenesis plays an important role in its progression. Angiogenesis is regulated by a balance between pro and antiangiogenic molecules. The aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of angiogenic factors and elucidate their roles in angiogenesis in HCC. Methods: We investigated immunohistochemical expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), angiopoietins (Ang-1 and Ang-2), hypoxia-induced factor-1α (HIF-1α) and thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) in 60 specimens of surgically resected HCC. We investigated the relationship between their expressions and clinicopathological factors or prognosis. Results: Ang-2 staining had a significant correlation with the grade of differentiation of HCC cells ( P=0.0082). VEGF and Ang-2 expression correlated positively with microvessel density (MVD) ( P=0.0061 and 0.0374, respectively). MVD of well-differentiated HCC were significantly lower than those of moderately and poorly differentiated HCC. The disease-free survival time of patients with high Ang-2 and/or HIF-1α expression was significantly shorter than that of the low expression group ( P=0.0278 and 0.0374, respectively). Conclusion: Our study showed that the expression of VEGF and Ang-2 correlated with MVD. Strong Ang-2 expression and/or high nuclear expression of HIF-1α is a significant predictive factor for recurrence after curative resection in HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]