title: Expression of insulin-like growth factor II and its receptor in liver cells from patients with chronic liver diseases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the relationship between insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), IGF-II receptor, and chronic liver diseases and to investigate the clinical mechanisms of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed IGF-II and IGF-II receptor poly (A)+ mRNA in dysplasia liver cell (DLC; n = 10), liver cirrhosis (LC; n = 9), and chronic active hepatitis (CAH; n = 9) specimens by Northern blot using human IGF-II and IGF-II receptor DNA probes labeled with (32) P through nick translation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expression of IGF-II in DLC samples (10/10, 100%) was higher than in CAH (3/9, 33%) and LC samples (3/9, 33%) (P < 0.01). Expression of IGF-II receptor in DLC samples (7/10, 70%) was significantly higher than in CAH (2/9, 22%) and LC samples (3/9, 33%). Data on hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection status from different chronic liver disease samples were also analyzed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overexpression of IGF-II and IGF-II receptor in DLC samples was associated with a preceding step to malignant phenotype hepatocyte transformation and may be of diagnostic value for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Persistent HBV infection was strongly associated with abnormal IGF-II and IGF-II receptor mRNA expression, suggesting that an autocrine or paracrine mechanism is involved in the regulation of growth in liver cell carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Dong-Hua Yang, Chong Xiu, Bo Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Zhujiang Hospital, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Dong-Hua Yang, Chong Xiu, Bo Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Zhujiang Hospital, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiu
authors.affiliation: Dong-Hua Yang, Chong Xiu, Bo Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Zhujiang Hospital, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Dong-Hua Yang, Chong Xiu, Bo Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Zhujiang Hospital, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Dong-Hua Yang, Chong Xiu, Bo Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Zhujiang Hospital, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Dong-Hua Yang, Chong Xiu, Bo Yang, Department of Gastroenterology, Zhujiang Hospital, The First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510282, Guangdong Province, China.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Qu
keywords: Carcinoma; Hepatitis; Hepatocellular; Insulin like growth factor II; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Liver neoplasms; Receptors