title: Immunohistochemical demonstration of transferrin receptor 1 and 2 in human hepatocellular carcinoma tissue.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent studies have confirmed that iron overload is involved not only in liver carcinogenesis, but in its progression. Results in studies using liver cancer cell lines have suggested a relationship between transferrin receptor (TfR) expression and liver carcinogenesis, but TfR expression has not yet been analyzed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues.
  
  
  METHODS
  We immunohistochemically assessed the expression of TfR1 and TfR2 in tumor tissues and adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues from 41 HCC patients who underwent partial hepatectomy. We evaluated uptake of iron in hepatocytes and HCC cells using iron staining.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The expression TfR was significantly higher in HCC samples than in adjacent non-tumor tissue (p < 0.001). TfR expression was significantly related to serum alpha-fetoprotein (p < 0.05) and des-gamma carboxy prothrombin (p < 0.05) concentrations. We also found iron deposition in non-tumor tissue from 25 patients, but in only two HCC samples, consistent with findings that hepatocellular iron uptake decreases with liver carcinogenesis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We investigated the expression of TfR1 and TfR2 in human HCC tissues by immunohistochemistry, the first report demonstrating TfR2 expression immunohistochemically in human HCC. These results suggest that TfR is expressed in response to iron deficiency during liver carcinogenesis.
authors.forename: Kunitoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sohda
authors.forename: Syu-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Genryu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morihara
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aanan
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takeyama
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Syakado
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noritomiz
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Shotaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakisaka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007501:Iron / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; C068126:CD71 antigen; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin; C503640:TFR2 protein, human; D007501:Iron