Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The immunohistochemical determination of the accessory protein of DNA-polymerase delta (PCNA), a marker of an early S-phase of the cell cycle, was used to evaluate cell proliferation retrospectively in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver biopsy sections in a group of patients with cirrhosis of similar age and duration of follow up, and with no evidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (41), including 17 patients with and 24 without hepatocellular carcinoma appearance during follow up. Proliferation was expressed as total (PCNA-TOT) and strongly (PCNA-STRO) positive nuclei per 1000 hepatocytes. The presence of dysplasia was also recorded. Histological findings and biochemical data, at the time of liver biopsy, were compared in the two groups. While total PCNA positivities were not significantly different in the two groups, strong reactivity was significantly higher in patients who eventually developed hepato-cellular carcinoma (median 0.7 vs 2.6). Univariate analysis of histological and biochemical data at the time of biopsy, followed by a stepwise regression study, showed that the significant parameters for a time-dependent disease-free state were, in decreasing order: cholesterol, PCNA-STRO, PCNA-TOT and alpha foeto-protein. Other clinical, biochemical and histological parameters, including dysplasia, provided no further information. From these data, hepatocellular proliferation can be evaluated in patients with cirrhosis with a currently available technique. Patients with high cell proliferation are at increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma and may require differentiated follow up.
 ...
PMID:Increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma development in patients with cirrhosis and with high hepatocellular proliferation. 791 17

Exposure to a common phthalate, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), is associated with liver hyperplasia prior to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in rodents. The exact mechanism of liver hyperplasia as well as tumorigenesis by this agent is not known. Since other lines of evidence point to estrogens as mediators of liver hyperplastic changes, we investigated whether DEHP exposure might alter hepatic estrogen metabolism and induce hyperplasia. Male Fischer 344 rats were fed either control or 1.2% DEHP-containing diets and sacrificed after 4, 8 and 16 weeks of exposure; activities of several sex hormone-responsive markers were measured. Rats fed DEHP had significantly increased serum estradiol levels, but hepatic activity of both cytosolic and nuclear estrogen receptor (ER) was significantly reduced. The serum content of ceruloplasmin, an estrogen-responsive protein synthesized by the liver, was also reduced, perhaps as a consequence of loss of ER activity. The rise in serum estradiol in DEHP-treated rats may be explained by the observation that these rats showed significant losses in hepatic activity of both a major male estrogen-metabolizing enzyme, estrogen 2-hydroxylase, and a male-specific estrogen-sequestering protein. In contrast to reductions in these activities, the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and mRNAs for both ER and fos increased significantly as a result of exposure to DEHP. Our results suggest that changes in estrogen metabolism, receptor activity and activation of genes for cell proliferation are among the earliest metabolic alterations induced by DEHP. These changes together with the induced hyperplasia could play a crucial role in hepatocellular carcinoma development as a result of continuous exposure to DEHP.
 ...
PMID:Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate-induced changes in liver estrogen metabolism and hyperplasia. 791 5

Although the dysregulation of physiological signals and mechanisms controlling cell proliferation has been a major focus in cancer research, recent evidence suggests that explicit evaluation of apoptosis or physiological cell death may be equally important in understanding multistage carcinogenesis. Dietary restriction of rodents is well known to reproducibly retard development of spontaneous and chemically induced tumors. We reasoned that the decrease in metabolic and hormonal trophic factors induced with this intervention could promote selective cell deletion via apoptosis. To pursue this possibility, we quantified the spontaneous apoptotic rate in liver sections from diet-restricted (DR) and ad libitum-fed (AL) 12-month-old male C57BL/6 x C3H F1 mice, a murine strain known to develop a high incidence of spontaneous liver tumors by 18 months of age. The identification of hepatocyte apoptotic bodies was facilitated by in situ end-labeling immunohistochemistry. The basal rate of proliferation of hepatocytes was quantified utilizing proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunohistochemistry. The incidence of apoptotic bodies and total proliferating cell nuclear antigen-positive cells was enumerated in 14 mice/group by scoring 50,000 random hepatocytes/liver and expressed as the mean incidence/100 cells. When the comparison was made between diet groups, the apoptotic rate was significantly higher in the DR mice relative to the AL mice, while the proliferation rate was significantly lower (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). The increase in spontaneous level of apoptosis and the decrease in proliferation rate in livers of DR mice were associated with a significantly lower rate of spontaneous hepatoma over a 36-month period. In summary, the results suggest that caloric intake may modulate the basal turnover rates of cell death and proliferation in a direction consistent with a cancer-protective effect in the DR mice and a cancer-promoting effect in AL mice.
 ...
PMID:Rates of apoptosis and proliferation vary with caloric intake and may influence incidence of spontaneous hepatoma in C57BL/6 x C3H F1 mice. 792 85

To evaluate the correlation between the polyamine metabolism and the degree of malignancy in hepatocellular carcinoma, we measured ornithine decarboxylase activity and polyamine concentrations in neoplastic tissue and adjacent noncancerous tissue from resected specimens of liver from 30 patients. Ornithine decarboxylase activity, polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) and ornithine decarboxylase mRNA levels were significantly higher in hepatoma tissue than in noncancerous tissue. The activity of this enzyme in the tumor tissue had a negative correlation with the histological degree of differentiation judged according to a modification of the Edmondson and Steiner classification. Resected hepatoma tissue was stained immunohistochemically with antibodies for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (also called cyclin), a marker of cell proliferation. We noted correlation between ornithine decarboxylase activity and the number of cells stained for this antigen (r = 0.882, p < 0.001). These results indicate that ornithine decarboxylase activity is high in human hepatocellular carcinoma, leading to increased intracellular concentrations of polyamines. Ornithine decarboxylase activity also reflected the rate of tumor proliferation and was correlated with the histological findings.
 ...
PMID:Relationship of ornithine decarboxylase activity and histological findings in human hepatocellular carcinoma. 792 50

The proliferative activity of chronic liver diseases and hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) was studied by PCNA immunohistochemistry. Human liver tissues were obtained by surgical operation or needle biopsy, and PCNA was detected by immunohistochemistry. PCNA-labelling indices (PCNA-LIs) of methanol-fixed tissues corresponded with the incidence of S-phase cells previously reported, whereas paraformaldehyde-fixed tissues showed extremely high PCNA-LIs in all specimens. Therefore, methanol-fixed tissues were used for evaluation. The PCNA-LIs of the methanol-fixed tissues were: normal liver 0.78 +/- 0.38%, chronic persistent hepatitis 1.06 +/- 0.86%, chronic aggressive hepatitis 2A 1.01 +/- 0.50%, chronic aggressive hepatitis 2B 4.20 +/- 1.79%, inactive cirrhosis 0.81 +/- 0.49%, active cirrhosis 1.96 +/- 0.93%, HCC of Edmondson's type I 4.83 +/- 1.98%, type II 6.65 +/- 1.69%, and type III 38.7 +/- 30.6%. PCNA-positive cells showed little specific distribution; in periportal areas in chronic hepatitis, at the margins of pseudolobules in cirrhosis, and throughout the tumor in HCC. These findings indicated that proliferative activity increased during the progression of chronic hepatitis, but that it decreased at the stage of cirrhosis. In chronic liver diseases, the PCNA-LIs reflected hepatitis activity. HCC showed higher proliferative activity than liver cirrhosis, and the histological grade was correlated with the PCNA-LI.
 ...
PMID:Evaluation of hepatic proliferative activity in chronic liver diseases and hepatocellular carcinomas by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunohistochemical staining of methanol-fixed tissues. 795 55

Liver biopsy specimens of 65 cases of chronic viral hepatitis, including 29 cases of type B, 34 cases of type C, and two cases of non-A, non-B, non-C type, were immunohistochemically stained for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) to evaluate the proliferative activity of hepatocytes. According to a histopathologic evaluation using the histology activity index (HAI) scoring system, chronic persistent hepatitis and chronic active hepatitis were clearly differentiated with no overlapping of the score. The labeling indices of PCNA of hepatocytes in chronic persistent hepatitis had a significant relationship with HAI scores (r = .54), suggestive of a contribution of lobular hepatocyte necrosis and/or portal inflammation to the regenerative rate of hepatocytes, but did not exceed 3.0%. On the other hand, 11 of 47 cases of chronic active hepatitis showed PCNA labeling indices higher than 3.5% without any significant relationship with the HAI scores. There was no significant difference, however, of distribution of HAI scores or PCNA labeling indices between hepatitis types B and C. Based on current concepts of the role of hepatocyte proliferation in the development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, the present results suggest that the high proliferative rate of hepatocytes subject to the persistent liver cell injury in chronic active hepatitis may be related to a reconstruction pattern of the liver in cases of progression to cirrhosis and development of hepatocellular carcinoma.
 ...
PMID:Proliferative activity of hepatocytes in chronic viral hepatitis as revealed by immunohistochemistry for proliferating cell nuclear antigen. 810 May 54

This paper reports the result of an experiment on the anticarcinogenic effect of liver targeted drug delivery system-mitoxantrone-polybutylcyanoacrylate-nanospheres (DHAQ-PBCA-NS) by using a model of heterotopic and orthotopic transplantation of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in nude mice. No significant difference was noted between the anti-HCC effects of mitoxantrone and dexerubicin, but the anti-orthotopic transplanting HCC effect of mitoxantrone-nanospheres was obviously higher than that of mitoxantrone and dexerubicin by comparison of tumor inhibition rates and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). The result showed the applicability of mitoxantrone-nanospheres.
 ...
PMID:[An observation of the anticarcinogenic effect of mitoxantrone-polybutylcyanoacrylate-nanosperes]. 815 Apr 36

Hepatocyte proliferative activity is elevated in cirrhotic patients who develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and decreased in alcohol-induced hepatitis patients with poor outcome. Hepatocyte proliferative activity has not been evaluated in an unselected population of cirrhotic patients regarding the severity of the disease. Forty-six cirrhotic patients (21 alcoholic, 20 viral, and 5 other) were prospectively analyzed by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunostaining on methanol-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver biopsy specimens. In these conditions, the PCNA-labeling index (PCNA-LI) measures the number of cells in the S-phase and assesses tissue proliferation. The median value of the PCNA-LI for all samples was 4.3% (range, 0%-20.2%). It declined with worsening Child-Pugh score: 9.15% (range, 3.3%-20.2%), 5.3% (range, 1.2%-18%), and 2.4% (range, 0%-4.4%) in Child classes A, B, and C, respectively (P < .05). Using the best cutoff PCNA-LI value to divide cirrhosis into slowly and rapidly proliferating tissue subsets, the PCNA index was independently associated with serum albumin. The probability of survival in patients with a high PCNA-LI ( > 4.4%) was significantly higher than in those with a lower PCNA-LI (0.93 vs. 0.53, at a median follow-up of 153 days; P = .01). In all 6 patients undergoing placement of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS), the PCNA-LI decreased after the procedure. This early impairment of hepatocyte proliferative activity after TIPS placement might reflect the functional alterations induced by this treatment. In conclusion, hepatocyte proliferative activity assessed by PCNA-LI is increased in cirrhotic patients and decreases with worsening of the disease.
 ...
PMID:Relationship between hepatocyte proliferative activity and liver functional reserve in human cirrhosis. 862 Nov 25

Increased prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been found in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression of insulinlike growth factor II (IGF-II) has been linked to hepatocarcinogenesis in the experimental animal and in humans. Since reactivation of fetal IGF-II transcripts has been observed in human HCC, we have analyzed the levels of adult P1 and fetal P3 and P4 IGF-II promoter-derived transcripts in the liver of patients with HCV-related chronic active hepatitis (CAH), cirrhosis, and HCC by means of a semiquantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Transcripts derived from adult P1 promoter were increasingly expressed from normals to patients with CAH and cirrhosis, but were undetectable in the tumorous area of 5 of 7 HCC patients and present at low levels in the nontumorous area of all HCC patients. Transcripts derived from fetal P3 promoter were not detectable in normal subjects, while they were expressed abundantly in most CAH and all cirrhotic patients. Transcripts from fetal P4 promoter were detected at high levels in 3 of 9 CAH patients and in the majority of cirrhotic patients. Increased expression of fetal promoter-derived transcripts was also found in the liver of HCC patients, although levels were lower than in cirrhosis. Also, the activity of fetal P3 and P4 promoters was higher in the nontumorous than in the tumorous area of the liver of HCC patients. The expression of IGF-II transcripts was correlated with the rate of cell mitotic activity by measuring the expression of the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) gene. PCNA messenger RNA (mRNA) levels progressively increased from normals to CAH and to cirrhotic patients, and persisted at a high level in the tumorous and in the nontumorous area of HCC subjects, thus showing that the increase of IGF-II transcripts in CAH and cirrhosis is accompanied by an activation of cell mitosis in these samples. These data suggest that the activation of IGF-II gene expression from adult and fetal promoters may play a role in premalignant proliferation observed in HCV-related chronic liver disease.
 ...
PMID:Activation of fetal promoters of insulinlike growth factors II gene in hepatitis C virus-related chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. 867 43

Nuclear DNA ploidy analysis was studied in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who underwent hepatic resections. These patients were classified three groups according to the following prescriptions. Group A (n = 100) was a group of patients of which excluded ones treated by absolute non-curative resection, Group B (n = 43) was patients who underwent absolute curative resection or relative curative resection, and Group C (n = 81) was patients whose tumor sizes were more than 2 cm in Group A. Aneuploid pattern was found in 59 cases (59.0%) in Group A, 22 cases (51.2%) in Group B and 54 cases (66.7%) in Group C. The rate of aneuploid pattern was significantly higher in patients with carcinomas more than 2 cm in diameter, fc-inf positive growth, Stage III + IV and PCNA LI > or = 40% in Group A, those with carcinomas more than 2 cm in diameter, fc-inf positive growth, im-positive and Stage III + IV in Group B, and those with PCNA LI > or = 40% in Group C. The postoperative prognoses of patients with aneuploid pattern in Group A and Group C were significantly poorer than those of the diploid one in cumulative survival rates and survival rates after recurrence. Patients with aneuploid pattern in Group B had a poorer prognosis than those with diploid one in cumulative survival rates and disease-free survival rates. These results suggest that nuclear DNA ploidy analysis was a useful marker of biological malignant potential in resected human HCCs.
 ...
PMID:[DNA ploidy pattern in resected human hepatocellular carcinomas from the view point of biological malignant potential]. 867 56


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>