Expression profile and prognostic value of glypican‐3 in post‐operative South Korean hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients commonly experience poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) after curative surgical resection. Glypican-3 (GPC3) has been suggested as a prognostic biomarker for post-operative survival. However, few to none of these studies have included South Korean patients. This study aimed to determine GPC3 expression rate, clinical correlation, and post-operative prognostic value in South Korean HCC patients who underwent curative surgical resection. Surgically resected tissues from 185 HCC patients were collected and assembled into tissue microarrays (TMAs), which were stained for GPC3 by immunohistochemistry. GPC3 expression rates were correlated with clinicopathological information, and survival analyses were performed to assess the prognostic value of GPC3. GPC3 expression was present in 153 patients (82.7%). GPC3-positive patients were younger with higher frequencies of microvascular invasion and higher AFP levels than GPC3-negative patients. There was no significant difference in survival between GPC3-negative and GPC3-positive patients. Based on multivariate analysis, GPC3 expression was not a prognostic marker for post-operative survival. In South Korean HCC patients, GPC3 expression was more frequent in HCCs with aggressive features, but it was not an independent prognostic biomarker.

Overexpression of glypican-3 is a predictor of poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

“…1 ). [ 18 – 22 , 26 – 31 , 33 – 35 ] Among the 14 articles, 7 literature were based on China, [ 18 , 21 , 28 – 30 , 33 , 35 ] 4 performed in Japan, [ 19 , 20 , 22 , 26 ] 1 in Taiwan, [ 31 ] 1 in Korea, [ 27 ] and 1 in USA. [ 34 ] All articles used the method of IHC to detect GPC3 expression in tissues.…”

Glypican‐3: A promising biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis and treatment

“…In the case of HCC patients who had received surgical resection, positive tissue GPC3 staining was correlated with poor overall survival, disease‐free survival, and postoperative metastasis/recurrence . However, conflicting results exist with regard to the prognostic value of tissue GPC3 expression and overall survival and disease‐free survival in HCC patients after hepatectomy . Additionally, in HCV‐positive HCC patients, circumferential membranous GPC3 expression indicates shorter disease‐free survival after surgical resection ( n = 71) .…”

“…98,121,122 However, conflicting results exist with regard to the prognostic value of tissue GPC3 expression and overall survival and disease-free survival in HCC patients after hepatectomy. 97,123 Additionally, in HCV-positive HCC patients, circumferential membranous GPC3 expression indicates shorter disease-free survival after surgical resection (n = 71). 98 Besides GPC3 tissue-expression level, serum GPC3 level was previously investigated for its prognostic value, and the results showed that an elevated level of preoperative serum GPC3 N-terminal subunit antigen was associated with shorter overall survival and disease-free survival after hepatectomy (n = 115, cut-off value: 185.52 pg/mL).…”

Advances in the study of oncofetal antigen glypican-3 expression in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that GPC-3 is an independent risk factor for the 5-year survival (p = 0.031) and disease-free survival rates (p = 0.047). Together with tumor differentiation, the Milan criteria, and preoperative AFP, GPC-3 is a potential indicator of a poor prognosis after liver transplantation in patients with HCC and HBV-associated cirrhosis (43,44).…”