1Department of Pathology, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Health Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. 2Department of Pathology, Hanyang University Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. parkcg@hanyang.ac.kr
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Apolipoprotein D (Apo D) has recently been identified as a novel tumor suppressor gene. Apo D may have a profound effect on the carcinogenesis and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. This study was designed to evaluate the expression of Apo D in hepatocellular carcinoma and to investigate the relationship between the expression of Apo D and the clinicopathological characteristics and the patients' survival.
METHODS: An immunohistochemical study was performed on the tumors and tissues from 43 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with controls to determine the expression of Apo D protein.
RESULTS: Our data showed that a higher expression of Apo D was seen in 10 of 43 cases (23.3%), while a lower and no expression of Apo D was observed in 28 of 43 cases (65.1%) and 5 of 43 cases (11.6%), respectively. A reduced expression of Apo D was correlated with the tumor stage (p = 0.037) and tumor size (p = 0.017). However, the patients' 5-year survival was not associated with the expression of Apo D (p = 0.903).
CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a reduced Apo D protein expression may play an important role in HCC progression as associated with the tumor stage and size, but it does not affect the survival of HCC patients.
PDF Links
Full text via DOI
Download Citation 
CrossRef TDM
E-Mail 
