Expression of SOX4 gene and early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma: their relationship and the clinical significance / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>T To explore the relationship between the expression of SOX4 gene and early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after curative resection.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>SOX4 expression was detected immunohistochemically in 60 HCC patients including 30 with and 30 without early recurrence after curative resection, with 30 normal liver specimens as the control.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of SOX4 was significantly higher in HCC than in normal liver (41.7% vs 16.7%, P<0.05), and in HCC tissues, the expression was significantly higher in early recurrent HCC after curative resection than in HCC without early recurrence (56.7% vs 26.7%, P<0.05). SOX4 expression was inversely correlated to the patients' gender, age, tumor size, HBsAg, and Edmonson grade (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SOX4 is closely associated with early recurrence of HCC after curative resection, and its overexpression may contribute to early recurrence of HCC. SOX4 may serve as a new molecular indicator for evaluating the prognosis of HCC.</p>

Differentiation of transplanted mouse c-Kit+lin- bone marrow cells into hepatocytes in vitro / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To ascertain whether mouse c-Kit(+)Lin- bone marrow cells have the potential of hepatic stem cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>c-Kit(+)lin- bone marrow cells were isolated and purified by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) from BALB/C male donor mice, and immediately transplanted into age-matched BALB/C syngeneic female mice with 35-Gy total liver irradiation. The recipients were sacrificed 1 month after the transplantation for pathological observation of the liver morphology. The presence of Y-chromosome was examined in the liver cells of the recipient by in situ hybridization (ISH), and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and albumin in the cells were detected by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The hepatocytes positive for Sry gene on Y-chromosome were identified 1 month after transplantation, and immunohistochemistry for AFP and albumin confirmed that the donor mice-derived cells were hepatocytes.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>c-Kit(+)lin- bone marrow cells have the potential of hepatic stem cells, which can reside and differentiate into hepatocytes in the liver after transplantation. c-Kit(+)lin- bone marrow cells can be used as the source cells of cell transplantation for liver disease.</p>

Analysis of factors for bacterial infection following liver transplantation / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association of surgical skills, anhepatic time and preoperative hepatic function grading with bacteria infection after the liver transplantation and identify the common bacterial flora involved for effective prevention and treatment of the posttransplant bacterial infection. METHODS;The clinical records of 31 cases of liver transplantation from August 2004 to August 2005 were reviewed and the collected data were analyzed statistically. RESULTS; Among the 31 cases, posttransplant bacterial infection occurred in 16 cases accounting for a total incidence of 51.61%, with the incidence of multi-system (or multi-organ) infection of 22.58%. The earlier cases had longer average surgery time and anhepatic period than the later cases, with also higher incidence of infection. Among the 19 patients with hepatic function class A before surgery, 7 acquired bacterial infection involving one system or organ, 2 had infections compromising multiple system or organ. In the 8 patients of hepatic function class B before surgery, 2 had single-system or -organ infection and 1 multi-system or -organ infection. Four out of the 5 patients with hepatic function class C before surgery acquired posttransplant bacterial infections, all involving multiple systems or organs. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common bacteria responsible for the infections in these cases.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Improvement of surgical skills can obviously reduce the incidence of bacterial infection after liver transplantation. No evidences suggest the correlation between the incidence of infections (including severe ones) and hepatic function class A or B before the operation, whereas patients with preoperative hepatic function class C seems to be at higher risk for infection involving multiple systems or organs. The anhepatic time does not significantly impact on the incidence or severity of the posttransplant infections, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common bacteria causing the infections.</p>