Relation of heparanase-1 and syndecan-1 gene to invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression of heparanase-1 and syndecan-1 gene in solitary large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), nodular HCC and small HCC and explore its clinical significance. Methods The mRNA expression of heparanase-1 and syndecan-1 was determined by RT-PCR in samples of HCC and adjacent non-cancerous tissue from 30 patients with HCC. Results The mRNA expression of heparanase-1 was significantly higher while that of syndecan-1 lower in tumor tissue than in the adjacent non-cancerous tissue (P0.05). The high expression of heparanase-1 and low expression of syndecan-1 were correlated to capsular and venous invasion of HCC (P0.05). The mRNA expression level of heparanase-1 was markedly higher in nodular HCC than in solitary large HCC and small HCC (P0.05). Conclusions The heparanase-1 and syndecan-1 are correlated with the growth, invasion and metastasis of HCC. Solitary large HCC has better biological behavior than nodular HCC.