Vasculogenic mimicry in human hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the existence of vasculogenic mimicry in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods In this study 42 patients with a total of 47 HCC nodules underwent radical resection.Histological and immunohistochemical double staining of CD31 and PAS were applied to observe the existence of vasculogenic mimicry ( VM ). Reverse tanscription PCR (RT-PCR) were applied to study the expression of VE-cadherin, EPHA2 and MMP-2 genes. Results VM was found in 16 of the 42 (38. 1% )HCC cases. The typical forms of VM in the microscope are vessel-like structure formed by tumor cells,without endothelial cells and the PAS-positive looping pattern. The existence of VM in HCC correlates to a higher Edmondson grade, higher capacity of intrahepatic disseminating and poorer tumor-free survival time (P＜ 0. 05). Comparing the difference of VE-cadherin gene, EPHA2 gene and MMP-2 gene expression between VM positive nodes and in VM negative nodes by RT-PCR method demonstrated that VE-cadherin gene, EPHA2 gene and MMP-2 gene have a more intense expression in VM positive nodes than in VM negative nodes ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion VM exists in human hepatocellular carcinoma. VM occurred more frequently in higher malignant HCC and predicts a higher rate of tumor recurrence and poorer prognosis.