Lin Wei, Chen Yan-Ling, Jiang Lei, Chen Jin-Kun
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Union Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, PR China.
Clin Lab. 2011;57(11-12):879-85.
Chemerin has been suggested to chemoattract dendritic cells (DC) and natural killer (NK) cells which have the antitumor role. However, no study has been performed to determine the expression of chemerin in tumor tissues. The aim of our study is to investigate chemerin expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor tissues and to correlate chemerin expression with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis.
In a random series of 124 HCC patients, the expression of chemerin protein in tumor tissues and matched non-tumor tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. The infiltration of DC and NK cells was examined by CD11c and CD56 immunostaining to observe whether it correlated with the level of chemerin protein expression. The correlation of chemerin expression levels with clinicopathologic variables and prognosis was also analyzed.
The expression of chemerin protein was significantly decreased in HCC of 72 patients compared with paracarcinomatous liver tissue. The level of chemerin expression was significantly correlated with tumor size (p = 0.016), histological grade (p = 0.027) and the infiltration of DC and NK cells (p = 0.027 and p = 0.035, respectively). Survival analysis indicated that HCC patients with lower chemerin expression had poorer survival than those with higher expression (p < 0.001). Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that the chemerin expression level was an independent factor for prognosis (HR 3.034, 95% CI 1.017 to 9.053; p = 0.047).
The results suggest that chemerin may play an important role in the development and progression of HCC via the recruitment of DC and NK cells.
有人提出，chemerin可趋化具有抗肿瘤作用的树突状细胞（DC）和自然杀伤（NK）细胞。然而，尚未开展研究来确定chemerin在肿瘤组织中的表达情况。我们研究的目的是调查chemerin在肝细胞癌（HCC）肿瘤组织中的表达，并将chemerin表达与临床病理参数及预后相关联。
在124例HCC患者的随机样本中，通过免疫组织化学检测肿瘤组织及配对的非肿瘤组织中chemerin蛋白的表达。通过CD11c和CD56免疫染色检查DC和NK细胞的浸润情况，以观察其是否与chemerin蛋白表达水平相关。还分析了chemerin表达水平与临床病理变量及预后的相关性。
与癌旁肝组织相比，72例患者的HCC中chemerin蛋白表达显著降低。chemerin表达水平与肿瘤大小（p = 0.016）、组织学分级（p = 0.027）以及DC和NK细胞的浸润情况（分别为p = 0.027和p = 0.035）显著相关。生存分析表明，chemerin表达较低的HCC患者的生存率低于表达较高的患者（p < 0.001）。多变量Cox回归分析显示，chemerin表达水平是预后的独立因素（HR 3.034，95% CI 1.017至9.053；p = 0.047）。
结果表明，chemerin可能通过募集DC和NK细胞在HCC的发生和发展中发挥重要作用。
