ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the expression of liver cancer stem cells(LCSCs) biomarkers and tumour angiogenesis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinical significance.Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of CD90,CD133 and CD34 in tumor tissues from 61 patients with HCC undergoing curative hepatectomy.Results The positive rates of CD90and CD133 in HCC tissues were 29.5％ (18/61)and 31.1％ (19/61),the positive rates of CD90 and/or CD133 in HCC were 45.9％ (28/61).The positive rate of LCSCs biomarkers in patients with vascular invasion,tumor differentiation Ⅲ/Ⅳ,non-complete encapsulation,and TNM stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ was significantly higher than those with non-vascular invasion,tumor differentiation Ⅰ / Ⅱ,with complete encapsulation,and TNM stage Ⅰ/Ⅱ.There were a significant positive correlation between LCSCs biomarkers expression and MVD(r =0.5,P ＜ 0.05).As compared with negative LCSCs expression and MVD low group,patients with a positive LCSCs biomarkers expression and MVD high in tumours had significantly lower overall survival (OS) and poor relapse-free survival (RFS).Conclusions High expression levels of LCSCs biomarkers are related to markers of angiogenesis microvessel density (MVD).By combining two of those we can classify paitients and anticipate the prognosis after surgery.