Woo Hyun Young, Min Ae Lyoung, Choi Jong Young, Bae Si Hyun, Yoon Seung Kew, Jung Chan Kwon
Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Korean J Hepatol. 2011 Mar;17(1):12-8. doi: 10.3350/kjhep.2011.17.1.12.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: E-cadherin is involved in intercellular binding and cellular polarity formation. Snail is a key regulator of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and is closely associated with tumor invasiveness due to its ability to suppress E-cadherin expression. We investigated the expressions of E-cadherin and Snail in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue to determine the clinical significance of these proteins in HCC.
Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the expressions of E-cadherin and Snail in resected tissues from 59 patients diagnosed with HCC. We also evaluated the relationship between the expressions of these two molecules in HCC tissue and clinicopathologic factors in the patients.
Immunohistochemistry showed that Snail was stained in 20.3% of the HCC tissues and 3.4% of noncancerous tissues. Snail was not stained in the area of E-cadherin expression. The expression of Snail in the HCC tissue was associated with poorly differentiated HCC (P=0.028). The expression of Snail without E-cadherin staining in HCC tissue was significantly associated with postoperative HCC recurrence (P=0.013).
The expression of Snail in HCC tissue was associated with decreased expression of E-cadherin and poorly differentiated HCC. The expression of Snail without E-cadherin staining in HCC was associated with postoperative recurrence.
背景/目的：E-钙黏蛋白参与细胞间黏附及细胞极性形成。Snail是上皮-间质转化的关键调节因子，因其能够抑制E-钙黏蛋白表达，故与肿瘤侵袭性密切相关。我们研究了E-钙黏蛋白和Snail在肝细胞癌（HCC）组织中的表达，以确定这些蛋白在HCC中的临床意义。
采用免疫组织化学法检测59例确诊为HCC患者的手术切除组织中E-钙黏蛋白和Snail的表达。我们还评估了HCC组织中这两种分子的表达与患者临床病理因素之间的关系。
免疫组织化学显示，20.3%的HCC组织和3.4%的非癌组织中有Snail染色。在E-钙黏蛋白表达区域未发现Snail染色。HCC组织中Snail的表达与低分化HCC相关（P = 0.028）。HCC组织中无E-钙黏蛋白染色的Snail表达与HCC术后复发显著相关（P = 0.013）。
HCC组织中Snail的表达与E-钙黏蛋白表达降低及低分化HCC相关。HCC中无E-钙黏蛋白染色的Snail表达与术后复发相关。
