Xue T C, Han D, Chen R X, Zou J H, Wang Y, Tang Z Y, Ye S L
Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion, Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2011;12(3):657-63.
The lung is the most frequent metastatic site of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), negatively impacting on survival rates. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic role of the chemokine receptor CXCR7 in lung metastasis of HCC after hepatectomy, using immunohistochemical detection on tissue microarrays of HCCs, with and without lung metastasis. Using three categories based on staining characteristics, patients with high CXCR7 expression demonstrated a shorter time to development of lung metastasis compared with patients with low CXCR7 expression (log-rank test) with no effet on overall survival. Analysis of tissue adjacent to tumor showed patients with microvascular invasion to have higher CXCR7. Stratification based on alpha fetoprotein level >20 ng/ml also showed high expression of CXCR7 to be a strong independent prognostic factor. These findings suggest that high expression of CXCR7 in HCCs with elevated alpha fetoprotein levels correlates with metastasis to lung and poor survival after hepatectomy, indicating potential use as a prognostic factor.
肺是肝细胞癌（HCC）最常见的转移部位，对生存率有负面影响。在本研究中，我们通过对有或无肺转移的HCC组织芯片进行免疫组化检测，评估了趋化因子受体CXCR7在肝切除术后HCC肺转移中的预后作用。根据染色特征分为三类，CXCR7高表达患者与CXCR7低表达患者相比，发生肺转移的时间更短（对数秩检验），且对总生存期无影响。肿瘤旁组织分析显示，有微血管侵犯的患者CXCR7水平更高。基于甲胎蛋白水平>20 ng/ml进行分层分析，也显示CXCR7高表达是一个强有力的独立预后因素。这些发现表明，甲胎蛋白水平升高的HCC中CXCR7高表达与肺转移及肝切除术后生存率低相关，提示其有可能作为一个预后因素。
