VEGFR-2 expression in HCC, dysplastic and regenerative liver nodules, and correlation with pre-biopsy Dynamic Contrast Enhanced CT.

PURPOSE

To evaluate whether VEGFR-2-expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), dysplastic (DLN) and regenerative liver nodules (RLN) correlates with pre-histology, in vivo Dynamic Contrast Enhanced-Computed Tomography (DCE-CT) data as VEGFR-2-expression affects prognosis and therapeutic options.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

34 patients (63.6±8.9years, 7 females) underwent liver biopsy or surgery due to suspected HCC or dysplastic nodules after DCE-CT between 2009 and 2015 with no previous chemo- or interventional therapy. Immunohistochemistry staining for VEGFR-2 was performed using Immunoreactive-Remmele-Stegner-Score (IRS) for quantification. A 128-row CT-scanner was used for DCE-CT with assessment of perfusion parameters blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), arterial liver perfusion (ALP), portal venous perfusion (PVP), and hepatic perfusion index (HPI).

RESULTS

Histology confirmed HCC (n=10), DLN (n=7) and RLN (n=34). Mean IRS for VEGFR-2 in HCCs was 9.1±3.0, 7.3±1.6 for DLN and 5.2±2.8 for RLN (p=0.0004 for HCC vs. RLN). Perfusion values varied significantly between all three groups for BF and HPI (p<0.001 and p<0.0001) and for BV in HCC vs. RLN (p<0.0001) and DLN vs. RLN (p=0.0019). Strong correlations between VEGFR-2-IRS and perfusion parameters were observed for BF in HCC (r=0.88, p<0.01) and HPI in HCC and DLN (r=0.85, p<0.04; r=0.9, p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

Immunostaining revealed different VEGFR-2-expression levels in HCC, dysplastic and regenerative liver nodules. Perfusion markers blood flow, blood volume and hepatic perfusion index correlated well with VEGFR-2-immunostaining. This non-invasive discrimination between regenerative and dysplastic/HCC nodules might open new perspectives for diagnosis, therapy planning, and anti-VEGFR therapy monitoring.