Expression and clinical significance of erb-B receptor family in hepatocellular carcinoma.
In order to elucidate the clinical significance of the erbB family, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), c-erbB-2, c-erbB-3 and c-erbB-4 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we investigated the expression of these proteins by means of immunohistochemistry for HCC as well as adjacent noncancerous lesions. EGF-R was expressed in 68% of the HCC examined and showed correlation with the proliferating activity, stage, intrahepatic metastasis and carcinoma differentiation. c-erbB-2 was expressed in only 21% of the cases and showed no relationships with the clinicopathological parameters. c-erbB-3 protein was observed in 84% of the HCC and 38.1% of the noncancerous lesions. Its expression in HCC was equal to or greater than noncancerous lesions in 90.5% of the cases, and was related to the stage, portal invasion, cell proliferating activity, tumour size, intrahepatic metastasis and carcinoma differentiation. c-erbB-4 protein was expressed in 61.0% of HCC and in as much as 86.1% of the noncancerous lesions. Unlike the expression of c-erbB-3, that of c-erbB-4 in HCC was less than that of the adjacent noncancerous lesions in 51.2% of the cases. No statistical significance could be established between this protein expression in HCC and clinicopathological features. EGF-R and c-erbB-3 affected disease-free survival, but were not recognized as independent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. The present study suggests that, of the four receptors, EGF-R and c-erbB-3 play important roles in the progression of HCC.
Ito
Y
Y
Department of Surgery, Osaka Seamen's Insurance Hospital, 1-8-30, Chikko, Minato-ku, Osaka, 552-0021, Japan.
Takeda
T
T
Sakon
M
M
Tsujimoto
M
M
Higashiyama
S
S
Noda
K
K
Miyoshi
E
E
Monden
M
M
Matsuura
N
N
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis*; D020893:Receptor, ErbB-3 / Q000032:analysis*; D066247:Receptor, ErbB-4; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors
D066246:ErbB Receptors; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D020893:Receptor, ErbB-3; D066247:Receptor, ErbB-4; C587689:ERBB4 protein, human