Higaki K, Yano H, Kojiro M
First Department of Pathology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
Am J Pathol. 1996 Aug;149(2):429-37.
Apoptosis, a programmed cell death, can be observed in the tissues of viral or autoimmune hepatitis and of hepatocellular carcinoma. Fas antigen (Fas) was proposed as a protein that triggers apoptosis. To elucidate the relationship between Fas expression and its location in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, we histochemically examined Fas expression by using 25 hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and their corresponding noncancerous tissues, which were surgically obtained from the same patients. In addition, the relationship between Fas expression and apoptotic cell numbers was examined in the hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained specimens obtained from 23 of the 25 patients. Hepatocellular carcinoma tissues expressed Fas less frequently and more weakly than noncancerous tissues. The majority of noncancerous specimens expressed Fas both on the surface and in the cytoplasm, whereas the majority of hepatocellular carcinoma expressed Fas only in the cytoplasm. Apoptotic cell counts were significantly higher in Fas-expressing tissues than in Fas-negative tissues. Among Fas-expressing tissues, the counts were higher in surface Fas-expressing tissues than in tissues that expressed only cytoplasmic Fas (P < 0.01 to 0.05). Our findings indicate that the development of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues relates to not only Fas expression but also its location.
细胞凋亡是一种程序性细胞死亡，在病毒性肝炎、自身免疫性肝炎及肝细胞癌组织中均可观察到。Fas抗原（Fas）被认为是一种触发细胞凋亡的蛋白。为了阐明Fas表达与其在肝癌细胞中定位之间的关系，我们采用组织化学方法，对25例手术切除的肝癌组织及其相应癌旁组织进行Fas表达检测，这些组织均取自同一患者。此外，对25例患者中23例患者苏木精-伊红染色标本进行检测，分析Fas表达与凋亡细胞数量之间的关系。肝癌组织Fas表达率及表达强度均低于癌旁组织。多数癌旁组织Fas在细胞膜表面及胞浆均有表达，而多数肝癌组织Fas仅在胞浆表达。Fas表达阳性组织凋亡细胞计数显著高于Fas表达阴性组织。在Fas表达阳性组织中，细胞膜表面Fas表达阳性组织凋亡细胞计数高于仅胞浆Fas表达阳性组织（P<0.01～0.05）。本研究结果表明，肝癌组织细胞凋亡的发生不仅与Fas表达有关，还与其定位有关。
