J Korean Med Sci.  2003 Apr;18(2):211-217. 10.3346/jkms.2003.18.2.211.

Expression of beta-catenin in Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Relation to Tumor Cell Proliferation and Cyclin D1 Expression

• Joo M
• Lee HK
• Kang YK

• KMID: 2157624
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2003.18.2.211

Abstract

Alteration of beta-catenin expression has been implicated in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It has been also reported that beta-catenin can influence the tumor cell proliferation or cyclin D1 expression, one of the target factors of beta-catenin. We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of beta-catenin and cyclin D1 in 77 patients with resected HCCs, and examined the relationships between the expressions of beta-catenin and cyclin D1, and other pathologic parameters including the mitotic index. Altered expressions of beta-catenin including nonnuclear overexpression and nuclear expression were detected in 58.4% of HCCs (45/77) and showed significant correlations with large tumor size, poor histologic grade, and high tumor stage. The mean mitotic index of HCCs with nuclear expression (3.2 +/- 3.0) and nonnuclear overexpression (2.7 +/- 2.5) was significantly higher than that of tumors with no overexpression (1.7 +/- 1.4) (p=0.018 and 0.038, respectively), however, no correlation was noted between the expressions of cyclin D1 and beta;-catenin. In addition, nonnuclear overexpression out of two altered expression patterns was more frequent (37.7% versus 20.8%) as well as pathologically more significant than nuclear expression. These results indicate that the altered expression of beta-catenin in HCC may play an important role in tumor progression by stimulating tumor cell proliferation, and nonnuclear overexpression may have pathologic significance in HCC.

Keyword

beta-catenin; Cell Adhesion Molecules; Cyclin D1; Mitotic index; Immunohistochemistry; Liver Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular

MeSH Terms

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/metabolism*
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/pathology
Cell Division*
Cyclin D1/metabolism*
Cytoskeletal Proteins/metabolism*
Human
Immunohistochemistry
Liver Neoplasms/metabolism*
Liver Neoplasms/pathology
Trans-Activators/metabolism*