ABSTRACT
Metastasis/recurrence has been the most fundamental characteristic of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and the ultimate cause of most HCC-related deaths. However, there are still a limited number of reliable tumor markers that can be used to predict the possibility of metastasis/recurrence in an HCC patient after operation. Recently, much evidence has shown that glypican-3 (GPC3) can be a useful tool to identify the early development of HCC, but little research has been done to test its usefulness as a prognostic marker related to post-operative metastasis/recurrence in HCC patients. In this study, the expression of GPC3 and its relationship with clinicopathological factors were determined by immunohistochemical analysis in 61 primary HCC patients. The potential prognostic value of GPC3 was investigated by comparing the survival time between HCC patients with high and low GPC3 expression. The results demonstrated that GPC3 expression was closely related with metastasis/recurrence in an HCC patient who can receive the operation. The risk of metastasis/recurrence after surgery in an HCC patient with high GPC3 expression was increased to 3.214 as compared to that of an HCC patient with low GPC3 expression. Survival analysis showed that HCC patients with high GPC3 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival time than HCC patients with low GPC3 expression (P=0.003). Further, multivariate analysis showed that GPC3 expression was a significant, independent prognostic parameter (P=0.030) for HCC patients. Overall, the study indicates that GPC3 might be a valuable marker closely related with prognosis and post-operative metastasis/recurrence in HCC patients.
Subject(s)
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/genetics , Genetic Markers/genetics , Glypicans/genetics , Liver Neoplasms/genetics , Neoplasm Metastasis/diagnosis , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/diagnosis , Humans , Immunohistochemistry , Multivariate Analysis , Neoplasm Metastasis/genetics , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/genetics , Postoperative Period , Survival AnalysisABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the value of ~(18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT on the detection and staging of natural killer (NK)/T cell lymphomas.Methods Thirteen new and 2 recurrent csses of NK/T cell lymphoma were inchded in this study and they all underwent wllole-body ~(18)F-FDG PET/CT scans.A lesion with intense ~(18)F-FDG uptake was taken as positive for disease involvement and semiquantitative metabolic assessment was performed with the maximum standardized uptake value(SUV_(max)).All patients were followed for more than 6 months.The t-test was used to analyze the semi-quantitative data statistics.Results (1) ~(18)F-FDG PET/CT had 100%positive detection rate for NK/T cell lymphom.Of 11 cases with disease involvement of the nasal region.PET/CT detected 10.either in the nasal cavity or in the nasopharynx,6 with extra-nasal infiltration,and 7 with regional nodal metastasis.There were 4 non-nasal cases and PET/CT detected one or multiple extra-nasal lymphoma lesions.The SUV_(max) of nasal and extra-nasal lesions was 12.42±9.25,9.54±7.12,respectively,with no significant difference(t=1.120,P＞0.05).(2)Two cases(2/15)diagnosed of this disease by PET/CT were initially referred as investigation of fever of unknown origin.For the remaining 13/15 known cases,PET/CT detected more "unsuspected" lymphoma lesions in 7 cases and affected the staging in 6 patients.The ~(18)F-FDG uptake (SUV_(max))of Ⅰ-Ⅱ stage patients was mildly lower than that of Ⅲ-Ⅳ stage patients,but no significant difference was observed (t=0.757,P＞0.05).Conclusions NK/T cell lymphoma is an intensely ~(18)F-FDG-avid tumor.~(18)F-FDG PET/CT is an effective imaging tool for detection and staging of this disease.
