Multiphase contrast-enhanced CT imaging in hepatocellular carcinoma correlation with immunohistochemical angiogenic activities.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the correlation between enhancement parameters of multiphase contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and immunohistochemical activities of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), VEGF receptors, and CD34 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
Twenty-seven patients underwent curative resection for HCC with no preoperative treatment. We defined several CT enhancement parameters by measuring attenuation values of tumor, liver parenchyma, and aorta. The stored tissue blocks were assayed for immunohistochemical activities of VEGF, two VEGF receptors (Flt-1, Flk-1), and CD34, which were correlated with the enhancement parameters of multiphase contrast-enhanced CT.


RESULTS
The VEGF activities in HCC showed moderate positive correlation with phase difference in portal phase, delayed enhancement (DE), tumor-blood ratio, blood pool index, and tumor-parenchyma ratio in arterial phase. The Flk-1 activities in HCC showed moderate positive correlation only with DE. CD34 activity in HCC showed positive correlation with most of the CT parameters except for DE.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study showed that several CT enhancement parameters representing mainly delayed enhancement features were well correlated with VEGF activity in HCC, and might be valuable indicators for assessing angiogenic activity in HCC.
Kim
Young Il
YI
Department of Radiology, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center,Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28, Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Korea.
Chung
Jin Wook
JW
Park
Jae Hyung
JH
Kang
Gyeong Hoon
GH
Lee
Minjin
M
Suh
Kyung-Suk
KS
Kim
Kwang Gi
KG
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*
D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor