Department of Surgery, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramoto-cho, Tokushima, 770-8503, Japan.
Int J Clin Oncol. 2013 Aug;18(4):651-6. doi: 10.1007/s10147-012-0432-6. Epub 2012 Jun 16.
CD44 is well known to be one of the cancer stem cell markers and is a cell-surface glycoprotein involved in cell-cell interactions, cell adhesion, and cell migration. We investigated the role of CD44 expression in both tumor and non-tumor tissues on recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Forty-eight patients with HCC who underwent hepatic resection at our institution were enrolled in this study. CD44 expressions in both tumor and non-tumor tissues were examined using real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The patients were divided into two groups: high and low gene-expression group, based on the CD44 expression level. We compared the clinicopathological factors between the high expression and low expression groups in both tumor and non-tumor tissues.
In the tumor tissues, the gene-expression levels of CD44 did not correlate with any clinicopathological parameters. The disease-free survival rate showed no significant difference between the two groups. In non-tumor tissues, although there was no significant relationship between the CD44 expression levels and clinicopathological factors, disease-free survival rate in the CD44 low expression group was significantly better than that in the CD44 high expression group (P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, the risk factors in tumor recurrence were presence of microscopic portal invasion and high expression level of CD44.
The CD44 expressions in the non-tumor tissues may predict HCC recurrence.
CD44 是众所周知的癌症干细胞标志物之一，是一种参与细胞-细胞相互作用、细胞黏附和细胞迁移的细胞表面糖蛋白。我们研究了 CD44 表达在肿瘤和非肿瘤组织中对肝细胞癌（HCC）复发的作用。
本研究纳入了在我院接受肝切除术的 48 例 HCC 患者。使用实时逆转录-聚合酶链反应检测肿瘤和非肿瘤组织中 CD44 的表达。根据 CD44 表达水平，将患者分为高表达组和低表达组。我们比较了肿瘤和非肿瘤组织中高表达组和低表达组的临床病理因素。
在肿瘤组织中，CD44 的基因表达水平与任何临床病理参数均无相关性。两组患者的无病生存率无显著差异。在非肿瘤组织中，尽管 CD44 表达水平与临床病理因素之间无显著关系，但 CD44 低表达组的无病生存率明显优于 CD44 高表达组（P<0.05）。多因素分析显示，肿瘤复发的危险因素是存在显微镜下门静脉侵犯和 CD44 高表达。
非肿瘤组织中的 CD44 表达可能预测 HCC 的复发。
