ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the histological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma with p62 expression, and the correlation of p62 protein with biological characteristics of the cancer cells such as proliferation and metastasis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The immunohistochemical expression of p62 and Ki-67 were studied in 40 primary hepatocellular carcinomas.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>67.5% (27/40) exhibited positive staining of p62 protein in the cytoplasm of malignant cells, of which the strong positivity was mainly found in pathologic grade III cases. The cases with strong positive staining of p62 exhibited extensive fibrosis in the stroma and massive necrosis of the tumor. These cases also exhibited high proliferation activity, the mean Ki-67 labeling index was 28.3% +/- 15.1%, which was significantly higher than that in p62 negative ones (t = 3.087, P = 0.005). Three of five cases with lung or celiac lymph node metastasis exhibited strong positive staining of p62.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There is some relationship between the expression of p62 protein, proliferation activity and metastasis of cancer cells as well as with the microenvironment which have abundant fibrous tissue in the stroma.</p>