Expression and clinical significance of CD146 and VEGF in hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of CD146 and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in human hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)tissues and explore their correlation with angiogenesis of HCC.Methods Immunohistochemistry was employed to determine the expression of CD146 and VEGF and microvessel density(MVD)in HCC tissues and their adjacent liver tissues from 60 cases.Results The positive rates of CD146 and VEGF were significantly higher in the HCC tissues than in the adjacent liver tissues(66.67% vs.30% and 63.33% vs.33.33%,P＜0.05).MVD was markedly higher in the HCC tissue than in the adjacent liver tissue (54.92±8.55 vs.21.36±6.63,P＜0.05).The expression of CD146 in the HCC tissue was significantly correlated with the clinical stage,the portal vein cancer embolism and the presence of extrahepatic metastasis but not with the recurrence of tumor,the number of tumor,the size of tumor,the level of alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)in serum and the differentiation degree of tumor.The expression of VEGF in the HCC tissue was significantly correlated with the recurrence of tumor, the presence of extrahepatic metastasis,the clinical stage,the portal vein cancer embolism and the size of tumor but not with the number of tumor,the level of alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)in serum and the differentiation degree of tumor.MVD was positively correlated with expressions of CD146 and VEGF.The expression of CD146 was positively correlated with that of VEGF.Conclusion The aberrant expression of CD146 and VEGF in HCC tissues is closely correlated to the angiogenesis and metastasis of HCC and analyzing their expression may be helpful for evaluating the prognosis of HCC. Key words: Carcinoma hepatocellular; Melanoma cell adhesion molecule; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Immunohistochemistry;  Microvessel density