Identification of liver-intestine cadherin in hepatocellular carcinoma--a potential disease marker.
Liver-intestine cadherin (LI-cad) is a non-classical cadherin, which is expressed during intestinal development, but absent in normal liver tissue. Our earlier investigation has detected overexpression of LI-cad in gastric adenocarcinoma and indicated its association with lymph node metastasis. Herein, we found in RT-PCR and TaqMan Q-PCR that LI-cad was identified in HCC cell lines, HuH-7, Hep-3B, and PLC/PRF/5, but not in MIHA and HepG2 non-tumorigenic cells. Immunofluorescence cytochemistry assay revealed that the LI-cad was predominantly expressed in cytoplasm of HCC cells, contrary to that of E-cad immunostain at the plasma membrane region. By testing against 18 pairs of HCC and adjacent non-tumor tissues, 13 cases (72.2%) showed over expression of LI-cad in HCC tissues, 2 cases (11.1%) were similar, and 3 cases did not yield detectable signal. None of the 6 normal liver specimens tested was positive with LI-cad. Taken together, LI-cad could be a potential disease marker for HCC.
Wong
Bonnie W
BW
Centre for the Study of Liver Disease, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, SAR, PR China.
Luk
John M
JM
Ng
Irene O
IO
Hu
Mei Y
MY
Liu
Kang D
KD
Fan
S T
ST
D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002460:Cell Line; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C490584:CDH17 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; C067802:intestinal peptide-proton cotransporter