Correlation of TLR3 with the alteration of stromal cells in tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma / 临床与实验病理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Purpose To analyse the correlation between the Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) expression and clinic pathologic factors,stromal microenvironment in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods The tissue microarrays of human HCC were prepared with self-owned patent technology.The expression of TLR3 in HCC cells as well as various indexes in HCC stroma was examined with immunohistochemistry of SP.The correlation between TLR3 expression with the clinic pathologic factors of HCC,and the correlation between TLR3 expression with the reaction of stromal cells in HCC microenvironment were analyzed by multi-factor correlation analysis.Results The positive expression rate of TLR3 in HCC was 71.57％.The expression of TLR3 in HCC had negative correlation with vascular invasion (P =0.001),cirrhosis (P =0.007),Edmondson's grades (P =0.001) and staging of TNM (P =0.000).It had positive correlation with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) (P =0.000).It had positive correlation with T cells (P =0.002) and natural killer (NK) cells (P =0.000).It had negative correlation with carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) (P =0.000) and microvessel density (MVD) (P =0.000).Conclusion TLR3 has an important influence on the interstitial microenvironment of HCC.