Osteopontin expression and its clinical pathological value in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To study the expression of osteopontin (OPN) and its clinical pathological value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Fifty resected specimens from the patients with HCC, paracarcinoma tissue of 50 cases and normal liver tissue of 10 cases were made into pathological section stained by immunohistochemistry. OPN expression in HCC was detected. And the relationship between the OPN expression and clinical pathological characteristic of HCC was studied. Results The positive rates of OPN in HCC, paracarcinoma tissues and normal liver were 70.00%, 18.0% and 0% respectively. OPN expression in HCC was obviously higher than paracarcinoma tissue and normal liver (all P<0.01). The OPN expression scores of well-differentiated, moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated HCC were 0.66± 1.62, 2.24±1.84, 2.17±1.65 respectively. The OPN expression score of poorly differentiated HCC was significantly higher than that of well-differentiated HCC (P<0.05). The OPN expression score of HCC with metastasis was significantly higher than that without metastasis (2.65±1.83 vs 1.30±1.71, P<0.01). Conclusions The expression of OPN in HCC is associated with the clinical pathological characteristic. OPN may be a potential index for diagnosis of metastasis and recurrence in HCC. Key words: Osteopontin; Carcinoma;  hepatocellular; Pathology;  clinical; Immunohistochemistry; Neoplasm metastasis