Osteopontin expression in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with different metastatic potential and HCC samples

Objective To study the relationship between OPN expression and HCC eellline me-tastatic potentiaI and HCC recurrence/metastasis after resection.Methods Immunocytochemistry,RT-PCR,Western Blot and ELISA were applied to detect OPN expression of HCC cell lines SMMC-7721,MHCC97-L and HCCLM6 with different metastastic potential.Immunohistochemistry of OPN was performed in the tissue arrays containing 200 HCC samples.Results The OPN expression was leveled with increasing metastatic potential of celIlines.OPN expression of samples was not associated with age.sex,serum AFP level,tumor size,cell differentiation,tumor capsule and lymphatic node metastasis but significantly associated with HCC TN M classification.portal vein tumor thrombi and HCC recurrence/metastasis after resection.OPN expression detected in 66% of HCC samples of pa-tients with recurrence/metastasis after resection was significantly higher than 37% of the samples of pa-dents without recurrence/metastasis after resection(P<0.05).Conclusion OPN expression iS associated with HCC cell line metastatic potential and maybe an indicator of HCC recurrence/metastasis after resection. Key words: Carcinoma hepatocellular; Osteopontin; Metastasis