ABSTRACT
Purpose To evaluate the expression of Arginine-1 (Arg-1) and Glypican-3 (GPC-3) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and non-hepatocellular carcinoma,as well as to summarize the related researches.Methods 156 cases of HCC,5 cases of cholangiocarcinoma,20 cases of metastatic adenocarcinoma and 18 cases of other types of tumors were studied.Immunohistochemical study for Arg-1 and GPC-3 was performed on the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumor tissues.Results The positive expression rates of Arg-1 in HCC and non-hepatocellular carcinoma were 93.6％ (146/156) and 0 (0/43),respectively,meanwhile the expression rate decreased with decreasing of differentiation (r =-0.264,P =0.001).GPC-3 expression was observed in 141 of 156 cases of HCC (90.4％) and 6 of 43 cases of non-hepatocellular carcinoma (14％),and the expression rate increased with decreasing of differentiation (r =0.179,P =0.026).The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of Arg-1 and GPC-3 in distinguishing HCC from non-hepatocellular carcinoma were 93.6％,100％,100％,81.1％ and 90.4％,86％,96.0％,71.2％,respectively.Conclusion Arg-1 is a sensitive and specific marker of hepatocytes.The application of Arg-1 and GPC-3 is of great significance in diagnosis of HCC and liver metastatic adenocarcinoma.