간 세포암에서 VEGF, TGF-β1, b-FGF 발현의 의의 = Expression of VEGF, TGF-β1, and b-FGF in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: Angiogenesis is important for the proliferation and the metastasis of solid tumors. The growth of a solid tumor is widely recognized to depend on the process of neovascularrozation. Without angiogenesis, tumors cease to grow beyond even a few milimeters in diameter. It has been shown that tumor vascular density is an independent prognostic marker in several types of human tumors and is known to correlate with poor prognosis. To date, many angiogenic factors have been identified, such as transforming growth factor-α(TGF-α), transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β), fibroblast growth factor family(FGF), vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF), platelet derived endothelial cell growth factor(PD-ECGF), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), and angiogenin. Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is the second most common tumor in Korean males and is known as a typical hypervascular tumor with frequent portal vein invastion. The authors identified the expreesion of VEGF, TGF-β1, and b-FGF in HCC specimens and evaluated the relationship between these growth factors and the clinicopathologic characteristics of HCC. Method: We reviewed the medical records of 30 patients who were diagnosed as hepatocellular carinoma treated with hepatic resection between January 1994 and December 1998 in Soonchunhyang University Chunan Hospital. The selection of the cases was decided according to the condition of paraffin block fixation. The prognostic factors such as age, sex, tumor size, concentration of serum α-fetoprotein, presence of liver cirrhosis, presence of tumor emboli in portal vein, TMN stage, amount of transfusion during the operation, hepatitis B virus(HBV) infection, and Edmonson-Steiner(E-S) grade were investigated. Relationship between the prognostic factors and the immunopathologic expression of the TGF-β1, b-FGF, and VEGF was examined. Result: Thirty patients (24 males, 6 females) were included in the current study. The patient's mean age was 50.6 years and the age ranged from 36 to 65 years. The mean size of the tumor was found to be 5.2cm. All the patients were follewed up for 7 to 63 months. Child's classification A patients were 23(76.7%)cases, B patients were 7(23.3%)cases, and C was none. Immunohistochemical staining of HCC tumor mass in VEGF expression patients were 17(56.7%), b-FGF expression patients were 10(33.3%), and TGF-β1 expression patients were 10(33.3%). VEGF expression or more than one positive expression among the three factors correlated with tumor size and the stage of HCC but did not correlated with other clinicopathological characteristics. TGF-β1 and b-FGF did not correlate with any clinicopathological characteristics. Conclusion: The results suggest that the expression of VEGF or more than one positive expression among the three factors in HCC cells may be a significant prognostic factor of HCC.