Performance of radiological methods in diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma preoperatively in a recipient of living related liver transplantation: comparison with step section histopathology.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of multidetector-row CT (MDCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) preoperatively in living related liver transplantation (LRLT) recipients with liver cirrhosis and HCC.

Materials And Methods: A total of 25 LRLT recipients with 89 pathologically proved HCCs underwent dynamic 4-row MDCT (5 mm collimation) and MRI within 1 month before LRLT. The images were reviewed for the diagnosis of HCC on a tumor-by-tumor basis by three observers independently and randomly using explanted specimens as the gold standard.

Sclerosed hemangioma of the liver: possible diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

We present a case of a sclerosed hemangioma (SH) of the liver that showed a high apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value. The patient was undergoing preoperative evaluation for a metastatic breast cancer lesion when a liver mass with a diameter of 3 cm was found. It was described as a heterogeneously hyperechoic mass on ultrasonography and as a well-defined, lobulated mass with early peripheral enhancement and internal heterogeneous enhancement in the delayed phase on computed tomography.

Prognosis of early hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatic resection.

Background/aims: Clinicopathologic characteristics and postoperative prognosis of early hepatocellular carcinoma (eHCC) have not been clarified.

Methodology: Early HCC was designated as tumor purely composed of well-differentiated HCC not containing moderately or poorly differentiated component. Twenty seven patients with early HCC among 515 patients underwent hepatic resection for HCC were analyzed.

Expression profile of class I histone deacetylases in human cancer tissues.

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity is one of the widely used and well-established mechanisms for regulation of various genes in cancer. To identify which subtype of class I HDACs are overexpressed in cancers, we analyzed the expression of class I HDAC isotypes composed of HDAC1, 2, 3 and 8 in several cell lines and human cancer tissues, including cancer of the stomach, esophagus, colon, prostate, breast, ovary, lung, pancreas and thyroid. The results showed that >75% of human cancer tissues and their corresponding non-cancerous epithelium showed high expression of these class I HDACs.

Reduced expression of focal adhesion kinase in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma is associated with poor tumor differentiation.

Objective: Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) expression has been linked to tumor cell invasion and metastasis, but its role in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has not been addressed. The goal of this study was to investigate FAK expression in ICC and to assess whether its expression is correlated with clinicopathological factors or prognosis in patients with ICC.

Methods: FAK expression was examined using immunohistochemistry with sections from 56 resected ICC specimens.

Role of growth factor receptor bound protein 7 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The human growth factor receptor-bound protein 7 (Grb7) is an adaptor molecule and is related to cell invasion. In this present study, we investigated the clinical and biological significance of Grb7 expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We reviewed 64 consecutive patients who had undergone liver resection for HCC, and we investigated the correlation between Grb7 expression and clinical outcome.

The predictors of microvascular invasion in candidates for liver transplantation with hepatocellular carcinoma-with special reference to the serum levels of des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin.

The microvascular invasion of cancer cells (mvi) is a good prognostic factor after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study is to predict mvi in patients with HCC who were candidates for OLT. We studied 218 patients with HCC resections who had HCC without any extrahepatic metastases and vascular invasion detected during preoperative evaluation.

Delayed-phase dynamic CT enhancement as a prognostic factor for mass-forming intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Purpose: To retrospectively determine whether the degree of contrast material enhancement at delayed-phase dynamic computed tomography (CT) for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is related to the patient's prognosis after surgery.

Materials And Methods: Neither institutional review board approval nor informed consent was required for this retrospective evaluation. Thirty-two patients (22 men, 10 women; mean age, 60.

Suppressed MKP-1 is an independent predictor of outcome in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: An increase in the activity of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) has been correlated with a more malignant phenotype in several tumor models in vivo. This study was designed to clarify the expression of MKP-1 in surgically resected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: We reviewed the cases of 77 patients who had undergone initial liver resection for HCC without preoperative treatment.

Detection of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinomas on enhanced CT: comparison with histologic findings.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of enhanced CT in making a diagnosis of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinomas (HCC-CCs) by comparing CT findings with histologic findings.

Conclusion: One third (nine of 27 cases) of the combined HCC-CCs were correctly diagnosed on enhanced CT by detailed analysis of the enhancing pattern around or within the mass. Various factors such as an atypical enhancing pattern, the size of each component, and the presence of a mass composed of intermediate tumor cells-that is, cells with intermediate characteristics between HCC and CC-were found to be the causes of misdiagnosis of combined HCC-CC on enhanced CT.

Clinicopathological correlates of aspartyl (asparaginyl) beta-hydroxylase over-expression in cholangiocarcinoma.

Unlabelled: Aspartyl (asparaginyl) beta-hydroxylase (AAH) expression in surgically resected intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma significantly correlated with tumor size, growth type, differentiation, vascular invasion, and prognosis after surgery. AAH may have a role in regulating invasive or metastatic tumor cell growth of human intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Background: Recent studies demonstrated increased expression of the AAH gene in the majority of cholangiocarcinomas.

The role of heat shock protein 27 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma in Japan: special reference to the difference between hepatitis B and C.

Background: A recent report showed that heat shock protein (HSP)-27 expression was related to histological grade and survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of expression of HSP-27 on clinicopathological variables in Japanese patients with HCC.

Methods: An immunohistochemical study for HSP-27 was performed on 60 HCC cases using a monoclonal anti-HSP-27 antibody.

Role of expression of focal adhesion kinase in progression of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: Although hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cancer of the human liver, the mechanisms that regulate HCC development and progression remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is involved in the progression of human HCC.

Experimental Design: Western blot analysis for FAK was performed on three HCC cell lines.

Prognostic factors in node-negative intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with special reference to angiogenesis.

Background: The aim of this study was to clarify prognostic factors and recurrence patterns in patients with node-negative intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC).

Methods: A retrospective study was performed to review prognostic factors and recurrence patterns (1) in 22 patients with node-negative IHCC after curative hepatic resection and (2) in 49 patients who underwent resection and lymph node dissection for IHCC. In addition to determining the clinicopathologic factors, the investigators also performed immunohistochemical examination of microvessel counts using antihuman CD-31 and antibody.

Tenascin expression at the invasive front is associated with poor prognosis in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Tenascin and decorin are components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that are implicated in cell proliferation in tumors. Here, we propose that abnormal expression of stromal ECM may play an important role in the progression of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, which is characterized by desmoplastic reaction. To explore this hypothesis, we performed immunohistochemical analysis in order to examine the expression and distribution of tenascin and decorin in 75 cases of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Transcriptional repressor snail and progression of human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: Snail protein is a suppressive transcriptional factor of E-cadherin that mediates cell-to-cell adhesion, tumor progression, and metastases. We explored the expression and function of Snail and its family member Slug in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to identify its role in tumor progression.

Experimental Design And Results: Transfection of Snail cDNA in Li-7, endogenous E-cadherin-positive human HCC cells, selectively induced the loss of E-cadherin protein expression.

Sarcomatous hepatocellular carcinoma: a special reference to ordinary hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Sarcomatous hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a worse prognosis than ordinary HCC. The relationship between the malignant potential of sarcomatous HCC and cell proliferation or cell adhesion is unknown. This study was undertaken to clarify this relationship.

The utility of keratin 903 as a new prognostic marker in mass-forming-type intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

The cytokeratins phenotype is largely preserved during neoplastic transformation and tumor development. We evaluated the immunoreactivity of biliary epithelial markers keratin 903 and cytokeratin 7 and 19 for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and compared the results with those for biliary dysplasia and hepatocellular carcinoma. Reactivity with keratin 903 was weakly expressed and increased after the expression of cytokeratin 7 and 19 during human intrahepatic bile duct development.

Morphologic approach to hepatocellular carcinoma development in man: de novo or the so-called 'dysplastic nodule-carcinoma' sequence?

The so-called dysplastic nodule-carcinoma sequence in the liver is generally accepted because hepatocellular carcinoma is not an uncommon finding in precancerous lesions. In order to evaluate the existence and frequency of de novo hepatocarcinogenesis we studied 112 surgically resected early well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas showing replacing growth without less differentiated component in themselves. They were divided into two groups: carcinoma in dysplastic area (type A) and carcinoma without dysplastic area (type B) and were analyzed clinicopathologically.

Coexpression of neural cell adhesion molecules and bcl-2 in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma originated from viral hepatitis: relationship to atypical reactive bile ductule.

It has been shown that atypical reactive bile ductules (ARBD) display positive immunoreactivity of neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM) and bcl-2. We investigated the clinicopathological features of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (CC) arising in cases of viral hepatitis B or C (VHBC) and examined their relation to ARBD by means of immunohistochemical analysis. Sixty-eight surgical cases with CC were included in this study.

The role of thymidine phosphorylase and thrombospondin-1 in angiogenesis and progression of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Thymidine phosphorylase (TP), an important regulator of angiogenesis, is correlated with progression, metastasis, and prognosis in various types of tumor. In contrast, both positive and negative effects of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) on angiogenesis have been reported. In the present study, we examined the expression of TP and TSP-1 in carcinoma cells in 67 primary intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas (ICCs) immunohistochemically and its correlation with angiogenesis, clinicopathological features, and prognosis.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: its mode of spreading and therapeutic modalities.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) is a primary adenocarcinoma of the liver, arising from the intrahepatic bile ducts. The prognosis is generally poor because locoregional extension is usually advanced at the time of diagnosis. Even after a resection, the outcome for patients with advanced IHCC is extremely poor, and the presence of lymph node metastasis has been reported in most previous studies to be the worst prognostic factor after a resection.

Clinicopathologic risk factors for recurrence after a curative hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: The long-term prognosis after resection for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is still unsatisfactory because of the high recurrence rate. The survival of patients with multiple intrahepatic or extrahepatic recurrence is especially poor.

Methods: Among the patients who underwent hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma between 1981 and 2000, 216 patients with 3 or less than 3 intrahepatic recurrences (group B); 156 patients with more than 3 intrahepatic recurrences, extrahepatic recurrences, or both (group C); and 51 patients who survived more than 5 years without recurrence (group A) were clinicopathologically studied.

C-met and hepatocyte growth factor expression in combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma.

The membranous tyrosine kinase receptor c-met and its natural ligand hepatocyte growth factor are prominent mitogens, motogens and morphogens for hepatocytes and many other cell types in vitro as well as in vivo. To clarify the significance of the c-met/hepatocyte growth factor system in the development and spread of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma, surgical specimen from 30 patients, consisting of 4 double cancers, 20 combined types and 6 mixed types, were examined immunohistochemically. Immunoreactivity for HGF was significantly correlated with the differentiation degree of cholangiocellular components, being highest in well and moderately differentiated and lowest in poorly differentiated components (p=0.