Wang B, Xu H, Gao Z Q, Ning H F, Sun Y Q, Cao G W
Department of Radiology, Medical Imaging Center of Affiliated Hospital, Weifang Medical University, Weifang, PR China.
Acta Radiol. 2008 Jun;49(5):523-9. doi: 10.1080/02841850801958890.
Changes in the biological behavior of residual viable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) remain unclear. Several studies have reported that TACE inhibits tumor angiogenesis and induces tumor cell apoptosis, while other studies have found that TACE stimulates tumor angiogenesis and thus increases the proliferative activity of the tumor cells to some degree.
To investigate the intratumoral microvessel density (MVD) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in residual surviving cancerous tissue after TACE in HCC.
Tumor specimens from 63 histopathologically diagnosed patients were studied: 42 comprising the control group (treated by surgery alone) and 21 comprising the TACE group (those treated by TACE 1-2 times prior to surgical resection). The number of VEGF-positive cells, MVD, and microvessel diameter were measured.
The MVD was 51.69+/-18.17 and 58.57+/-15.75 in the control and TACE groups, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups (t=1.48, P>0.05). The microvessel diameter was 17.62+/-10.54 microm and 15.79+/-7.65 microm in the control and TACE groups, respectively, indicating no significant difference between the two groups (t=0.71, P>0.05). The number of VEGF-positive cells in the TACE group, i.e., 243.66+/-88.88, was higher than that in the control group, i.e., 138.26+/-65.24 (t=5.34, P<0.01). TACE increased VEGF expression in the residual surviving HCC tissues, and there was a positive correlation between VEGF expression and MVD (r=0.4936, t=4.4329, P<0.05) in the HCC tissue.
The study indicates that the residual surviving cancerous tissue in HCC after TACE has a rich vascularity. TACE increases VEGF expression in the residual surviving cancerous tissue.
经导管动脉化疗栓塞术（TACE）后残余存活肝细胞癌（HCC）组织的生物学行为变化尚不清楚。一些研究报告称TACE抑制肿瘤血管生成并诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡，而其他研究发现TACE刺激肿瘤血管生成，从而在一定程度上增加肿瘤细胞的增殖活性。
研究肝癌经TACE治疗后残余存活癌组织中的瘤内微血管密度（MVD）和血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）表达。
对63例经组织病理学诊断的患者的肿瘤标本进行研究：42例为对照组（仅接受手术治疗），21例为TACE组（手术切除前接受1 - 2次TACE治疗）。测量VEGF阳性细胞数、MVD和微血管直径。
对照组和TACE组的MVD分别为51.69±18.17和58.57±15.75。两组之间无显著差异（t = 1.48，P>0.05）。对照组和TACE组的微血管直径分别为17.62±10.54微米和15.79±7.65微米，表明两组之间无显著差异（t = 0.71，P>0.05）。TACE组VEGF阳性细胞数为243.66±88.88，高于对照组的138.26±65.24（t = 5.34，P<0.01）。TACE增加了残余存活肝癌组织中的VEGF表达，且肝癌组织中VEGF表达与MVD之间存在正相关（r = 0.4936，t = 4.4329，P<0.05）。
该研究表明肝癌经TACE治疗后残余存活癌组织血管丰富。TACE增加了残余存活癌组织中的VEGF表达。
