title: E-cadherin expression in hepatocellular carcinoma treated with previous local treatment in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of previous local treatment on the E-cadherin (E-cad) expression in cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) within the Milan criteria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-four of 204 patients with HCC underwent LDLT between 1997 and 2014. Previous local treatment for HCC was performed for 121 lesions in 47 patients (47/74, 63.5%). Histological and immunohistochemical E-cad expression analyses were conducted on the basis of the whole-liver histological examination technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The interval to LDLT after the initial and last treatments was 24 months (2-206) and 10.5 months (1-58), respectively. Preoperative imaging showed necrosis in 92 (92/121, 76.0%) lesions caused by the effects of local treatment, whereas the histological examinations revealed viable HCC cells in 22 (22/92, 23.9%) lesions, demonstrating well or moderate differentiation without vascular invasion. Immunohistochemically, the expression of E-cad was maintained in 17 viable (17/22, 77.3%) lesions. There were no signs of malignant transformation or sarcomatous changes in the HCCs treated with previous therapy. The recipients who maintained an E-cad expression in the lesion with local treatment showed no recurrence or distant metastasis after LDLT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HCC cells remained in approximately 20% of the evaluated lesions, even those exhibiting necrosis on imaging of the explanted cirrhotic liver. However, the expression of E-cad was maintained in most of these lesions. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the rate of recurrence after LDLT between the patients who did and those did not receive previous local treatment for HCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kugiyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hidaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takatsuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Natsuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kitasato
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuroki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan. Electronic address: sueguchi@nagasaki-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eguchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins