Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.
J Surg Oncol. 2012 Aug 1;106(2):181-7. doi: 10.1002/jso.23059. Epub 2012 Jan 27.
Adipokines may explain the newly established association of obesity with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study investigated if adiponectin levels in HCC patients differed from healthy controls and their potential effect in the development of HCC.
Radioimmunoassay was used to determine serum adiponectin levels of 65 HCC patients and 165 healthy controls. The expressions of adiponectin protein in the tumor and adjacent non-tumor parts were examined by the immunoblotting method. Cell proliferation assays were used to assess the bioeffects of adiponectin in two human liver cancer cell lines.
Serum adiponectin levels were significantly higher in the HCC patients than the controls. Significant correlations of serum adiponectin levels with serum triglyceride levels and insulin resistance were found in the controls, but not in the HCC patients. In contrast, serum adiponectin levels significantly correlated with serum albumin and alkaline phosphatase levels in the HCC patients, but this trend was not observed in the controls. The expression pattern of adiponectin protein between the paired tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues significantly correlated with tumor size. In vitro, adiponectin increased cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner.
Increased adiponectin expressions were found in HCC and this increase might contribute to tumor growth.
脂肪因子可能可以解释肥胖与肝细胞癌（HCC）之间新建立的关联。本研究旨在探究 HCC 患者的脂联素水平是否与健康对照组存在差异，以及其在 HCC 发展中的潜在作用。
采用放射免疫法检测 65 例 HCC 患者和 165 例健康对照者的血清脂联素水平。采用免疫印迹法检测肿瘤及相邻非肿瘤组织中脂联素蛋白的表达。采用细胞增殖实验评估脂联素在两种人肝癌细胞系中的生物效应。
与对照组相比，HCC 患者的血清脂联素水平显著升高。在对照组中，血清脂联素水平与血清甘油三酯水平和胰岛素抵抗呈显著相关，但在 HCC 患者中则无此相关性。相反，在 HCC 患者中，血清脂联素水平与血清白蛋白和碱性磷酸酶水平呈显著相关，但在对照组中则无此趋势。配对的肿瘤和相邻非肿瘤组织中脂联素蛋白的表达模式与肿瘤大小显著相关。在体外，脂联素呈剂量依赖性地增加细胞增殖。
HCC 中发现脂联素表达增加，这种增加可能有助于肿瘤生长。
