Pathomorphological study on location and distribution of Kupffer cells in hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the location and distribution of Kupffer cells in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to investigate their role in hepatocarcinogenesis.


METHODS
Kupffer cells were immunohistochemically stained by streptavadin-peroxidase conjugated method (S-P). The numbers of Kupffer cells in cancerous, para-cancerous and adjacent normal liver tissues of 48 HCCs were comparatively examined.


RESULTS
The mean number of Kupffer cells in cancerous, para-cancerous and adjacent normal liver tissues was 12.7+/-6.8, 18.1+/-8.2 and 18.9+/-7.9 respectively. The number of Kuppfer cells in cancerous tissues was significantly lower than that in para-cancerous tissues (t=2.423, P<0.05) and adjacent normal liver tissues (t=2.521, P<0.05). As tumor size increased, the number of Kupffer cells in cancerous tissues significantly decreased (F=4.61, P<0.05). Moreover, there was also a significant difference in the number of Kupffer cells among well-differentiated, moderately-differentiated and poorly-differentiated cases(F=4.49, P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that decrease of Kupffer cells in HCCs may play an important role in the carcinogenesis of HCC, the number of Kupffer cells in HCC is closely related to the size and differentiation grade of the tumor.
Liu
Kai
K
Division of Molecular Biology of Infectious Disease Key Laboratory of Biotherapy of Human Disease, Ministry of Education, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
He
Xu
X
Lei
Xue-Zhong
XZ
Zhao
Lian-San
LS
Tang
Hong
H
Liu
Li
L
Lei
Bing-Jun
BJ
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology*; D002452:Cell Count; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007728:Kupffer Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*