Expression and clinical implications of bcl-2 in extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma: its relationship with biological features.
bcl-2 expression in 38 extrahepatic bile duct carcinomas was immunohistochemically investigated in order to clarify its clinical significance in this carcinoma. bcl-2 was expressed in 17 cases (44.7%), in which more than 10% of the carcinoma cells were positive for bcl-2. bcl-2 expression was more frequently absent in cases with advanced stages (p = 0.0642), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.0009), perineural invasion (p = 0.0647) and aberrant p53 expression (p = 0.0181). Furthermore, bcl-2 expression was inversely related to the incidence of apoptosis (p = 0.0002) and proliferating activity of the cells (p < 0.0001). These results suggest that bcl-2 plays a role in negatively regulating apoptosis and its loss can be significantly linked to the biological aggressiveness of this carcinoma.
Department of Surgery, Osaka Seamen/s Insurance Hospital, 1-8-30, Chikko, Minato-ku, Osaka 552-0021, Japan.
Y
Y
Ito
T
T
Takeda
M
M
Sakon
M
M
Tsujimoto
N
N
Matsuura
D017209:Apoptosis; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017734:Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000032:analysis*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis
D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53