Luo Li-Min, Xia Hu, Shi Rong, Zeng Jun, Liu Xin-Rui, Wei Min
Centre for Liver Disease, 458th Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510602, P.R. China.
Department of Respiration Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510282, P.R. China.
Oncol Lett. 2017 Dec;14(6):7077-7084. doi: 10.3892/ol.2017.7106. Epub 2017 Sep 29.
The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of aquaporin-1 (AQP1) level and intratumoral microvessel density (IMD) on the clinicopathological features of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The AQP1 expression levels, IMD and AQP1/IMD ratios in patients with HCC were measured using a semi-quantitative immunohistochemical technique. The association between these features and clinicopathological variables were evaluated. The prognostic impact of AQP1 and IMD on overall survival (OS), and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) of HCC patients was investigated retrospectively. P<0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. A total of 90 cases of HCC were included in the present study. AQP1 was markedly expressed in the membranes of microvessels and small vessels, but seldom in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Blood vessels in the tumors were markedly stained by anti-cluster of differentiation 34 antibody. AQP1 expression and IMD was significantly correlated with tumor size, histologic grade, Child-Pugh classification, microvascular invasion and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (P<0.05). Concurrently, for the 5-year DFS and OS, a larger tumor size, poorly differentiated histological grade, B and C Child-Pugh classification, presence of microvascular invasion, high TNM stage, a high AQP1 expression and a high IMD were significant risk factors for mortality. Multivariate analysis revealed that TNM stage and IMD were independent unfavorable prognostic markers for 5-year DFS (P=0.049 and P=0.025, respectively) and OS (P=0.043 and P=0.042, respectively). These data suggest that high AQP1 expression and IMD are associated with tumor progression and prognosis in HCC. The IMD level may serve as an independent indicator for the 5-year DFS and OS.
本研究旨在评估水通道蛋白-1（AQP1）水平和肿瘤内微血管密度（IMD）对肝细胞癌（HCC）患者临床病理特征的影响。采用半定量免疫组织化学技术检测HCC患者的AQP1表达水平、IMD及AQP1/IMD比值。评估这些特征与临床病理变量之间的关联。回顾性研究AQP1和IMD对HCC患者总生存期（OS）和5年无病生存期（DFS）的预后影响。P<0.05被认为具有统计学显著差异。本研究共纳入90例HCC病例。AQP1在微血管和小血管膜上显著表达，但在肝癌细胞中很少表达。肿瘤血管被抗分化簇34抗体显著染色。AQP1表达和IMD与肿瘤大小、组织学分级、Child-Pugh分级、微血管侵犯和肿瘤-淋巴结-转移（TNM）分期显著相关（P<0.05）。同时，对于5年DFS和OS，较大的肿瘤大小、低分化组织学分级、Child-Pugh B级和C级、微血管侵犯的存在、高TNM分期、高AQP1表达和高IMD是死亡的显著危险因素。多因素分析显示，TNM分期和IMD是5年DFS（分别为P=0.049和P=0.025）和OS（分别为P=0.043和P=0.042）的独立不良预后标志物。这些数据表明，高AQP1表达和IMD与HCC的肿瘤进展和预后相关。IMD水平可能作为5年DFS和OS的独立指标。
