Influence of surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) for hematogenous dissemination of HCC cells and its effect on recurrence and metastasis: 3 years prospective study

Abstract

Aims was to study whether hepatal surgery leads to hematogenous dissemination of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and determine period of its persistence by nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Peripheral vein blood (5ml) samples were obtained from 54 HCC patients of T 1 N 0 M 0 and 6 HCC patients of T 2 N 0 M 0 stage and 20 patients with liver cavernous hemangioma(LCH) before operation and 48h, 72h and 1 week after surgical resection of hepatoma between Janurary 1 st , 2007 and December 31th, 2010. We detected alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) messenger RNA(mRNA) by nested RT-PCR perioperatively.AFPmRNA of all 60 cases of HCC patients and 20 cases of LCH were negative before hepatal surgery, 28 of 60 HCC cases became positve at 48h after surgery (46.7%), 16 of 60 HCC cases remained positive at 72h postoperatively(26.7%), none of 60 HCC patients AFPmRNA was detected at 1 week after hepatal surgery(0.0%). None of LCH patients were detected AFPmRNA after hepatal surgery(0.0%). For 28 HCC patients with AFPmRNA positive after hepatal surgery, 4 HCC patients developed intrahepatic tumor recurrences in 1st year (4/28, 14.3%), 6 HCC patients relapsed in the second year(6/28, 21.4%), 10 HCC patients relapsed in the third year(10/28, 35.7%). For 32 HCC patients with AFPmRNA negative group postoperation, 5 cases relapsed in 1st year (5/32, 15.6%), 7 cases developed intrahepatic tumor recurrences in the second year (7/32, 21.9%), 11 cases relasped in the third year (11/32, 34.4%, P>0.05), none of HCC patients occured distal metastasis after surgical resection of hepatoma. None of LCH patients relapsed postoperation within three years.Hepatal surgery may cause HCC cells spreading into peripheral blood shortly, but it may be not concerning with recurrence or metastasis of HCC.

High expression of B7‑H2 or B7‑H3 is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Therefore, the determination of novel prognostic biomarkers is urgently required in order to enhance the prediction of the disease course of HCC at diagnosis. Previous findings have suggested that disorder in co-stimulatory or co-inhibitory signaling pathways serves a critical role in tumor cell evasion of adaptive immune surveillance (21–24). In particular, the dysregulation of B7-H2 and/or B7-H3 may deregulate T lymphocyte function in the HCC microenvironment, and even promote recurrence following surgery in patients with HCC (8,15).…”

Alpha fetoprotein antagonises benzyl isothiocyanate inhibition of the malignant behaviors of hepatocellular carcinoma cells

“…AFP is an early warning biomarker for the diagnosis of HCC occurrence. Recently, studies have shown that AFP plays a critical role in HCC cells resistance to anti-tumour drug effects [22, 23] and AFP expression was positively associated with HCC recurrence and metastasis [24–26]. These results suggested that AFP overexpression was an important factor for the promotion of HCC cells malignant behaviors.…”

Cyclovirobuxine D Exerts Anticancer Effects by Suppressing the EGFR-FAK-AKT/ERK1/2-Slug Signaling Pathway in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…Nevertheless, HCC patients are typically diagnosed at advanced stages, the majority of whom have suffered extrahepatic metastasis, causing patients to lose the opportunity for surgery or radiofrequency ablation (Colagrande et al, 2016). In addition, early frequent metastasis as well as postsurgical recurrence or metastasis can also result in similar consequences (Liu et al, 2015). Consequently, systemic administration, as an effective countermeasure against metastasis, appears to be crucial in the treatment of HCC patients, especially chemotherapy.…”