Glypican-3 expression and its relationship with recurrence of HCC after liver transplantation

• Published in: World journal of gastroenterology : WJG 2012-05, Vol.18 (19), p.2408-2414
• Main Authors: Wang, Yu-Liang, Zhu, Zhi-Jun, Teng, Da-Hong, Yao, Zhi, Gao, Wei, Shen, Zhong-Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biomarkers, Tumor; Brief; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - genetics; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - metabolism; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - surgery; Case-Control Studies; Disease-Free Survival; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Glypicans - genetics; Glypicans - metabolism; Humans; Liver Neoplasms - genetics; Liver Neoplasms - metabolism; Liver Neoplasms - surgery; Liver Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; mRNA表达; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - genetics; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - metabolism; Prognosis; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - analysis; TaqMan; 复发; 相关性分析; 聚合酶链反应; 肝癌; 肝移植; 诊断价值
• ISSN: 1007-9327; 2219-2840
• DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v18.i19.2408

AIM： To investigate the diagnostic value of glypican-3 （GPC3） and its relationship with hepatocellular carci- noma （HCC） recurrence after liver transplantation. METHODS： HCC tissue samples （n = 31） obtained from patients who had undergone liver transplantation were analyzed. GPC3 mRNA and protein expression were analyzed by TaqMan real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Correlation between the GPC3 expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed. The potential prognostic value of GPC3 was investigated by comparing recurrence-free survival between HCC patients with and without GPC3 expression. RESULTS： Using a cutoff value of 3.5× 10^-2, 20 of 31 cancerous tissues had expression values of 〉 3.5× 10^2, whereas 3 of 31 adjacent non-neoplastic paren-chyma and 0 of 20 control liver tissues had expression values of 〉 3.5 × 10^-2 （P 〈 0.001）. GPC3 protein was immunoexpressed in 68% of cancerous tissues, but not in adjacent non-neoplastic parenchyma and control liver tissues. Vascular invasion was significantly related to GPC3 expression （P 〈 0.05）. Recurrence-free sur- vival was significantly longer for patients without GPC3 mRNA overexpression （〉 3.5 × 10^2） and those without vascular invasion （P 〈 0.05 for both）. CONCLUSION： GPC3 expression may serve as a valuable diagnostic marker for HCC. GPC3 mRNA overexpression may be an adverse indicator for HCC patients after liver transplantation.