Biological markers in hepatocellular carcinoma: Potential clinical implications

✍ Scribed by Dr. Rosella Silvestrini; Aurora Costa; Antonia D'Errico; Alessandra Faranda; Enrico Regalia; Walter Grigioni; Leandro Gennari

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 212 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4790
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.2930530506

✦ Synopsis

The assessment of biological markers as potential indicators of disease aggressiveness is still an open problem in hepatocellular carcinoma. Cell proliferation and extracellular matrix (ECM)-associated antigens and tumor-cell products can be associated with clinical aggressiveness in this tumor type, as has already been demonstrated for others. Cell proliferation, expressed as the in vitro ['Hlthymidine labeling index, and ECMassociated antigens, such as type IV collagenase and laminin receptors, were assessed on the same paraffin-embedded samples. A strong association ( P = 0.0001) was observed between the expression of collagenase and laminin receptors, with a correlation coefficient (rJ of 0.68. No relationship was found between cell proliferation and ECM-associated antigens. Moreover, the biological markers were generally independent of clinicopathologic features, except for a higher number of collagenase-and laminin receptor-positive cells in large (2 5 cm) compared with small (< 5 cm) tumors. In the present series of hepatocellular carcinoma patients, the 3-year clinical outcome was significantly affected by cell proliferation and ECM-associated antigens.