ABSTRACT
Objective To detect the expression of KL-6 mucin in the tissue and serum of hepatoma in different hepatoma patients,and to investigate the value of KL-6 mucin as a tumor marker in the diagnosis of hepatoma.Methods The expression of KL-6 mucin in the hepatoma tissues of 81 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),21 patients with cholangiocarcinoma(CC),12 patients with combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma(HCC-CC)and 56 patients with metastatic liver cancer(MLC)was detected by immunohistochemical analysis.The expression of KL-6 mucin in the serums of 34 HCC patients,8 CC patients,30 MLC patients and 19 healthy individuals was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay,and all the data were analyzed by t test.Results Expression of KL-6 mucin was detected in the cholangiocarcinoma tissues in all CCand HCC-CC patients.In several hepatoma cells and partial hepatoma tissues of patients with MLC,the expression of KL-6 mucin was detected.No expression of KL-6 mucin was detected in the hepatocellular carcinoma tissuesand non-cancerous tissues of patients with HCC or HCC-CC.The serum levels of KL-6 mucin expression in CC patients were signifcantly higher than those in healthy individuals,HCC and MLC patients(t=5.58,5.34,4.00.P＜0.01).The difference of the serum levels of KL-6 mucin expression between MLC patients and healthy individuals had statistical significance(t=2.77,P＜0.01).However,no significant difference in serum levels of KL-6 mucin expression was found between HCC patients and healthy individuals and between HCC patients and MLC patients(t=2.03,1.89,P＞0.05).Conclusion The expression of KL-6 inucin in CC patients is significantly higher than in patients with other types of hepatoma in both tissue and serum levels.Thus,KL-6 may be a usetul new tmnor marker for distinguishing CC from other types of hepatoma.