Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY
Volume 27, Issue 9, Pages 1094-1102Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/MEG.0000000000000398
Keywords
CD117; c-KIT; epithelial cell adhesion molecule; hepatic progenitor cells; hepatocellular carcinoma; keratin 19; overall survival; recurrence-free survival
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Funding
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece [70/4/9680, 70/4/6549]
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AimWe aimed to assess the clinicopathological relevance and prognostic significance of expression of the hepatic progenitor cell markers keratin 19 (K19), epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and CD117 (c-KIT) in a White series of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsWe evaluated the immunohistochemical expression of K19, EpCAM and CD117 in 89 surgical specimens of HCC from Greek patients (mean age 66.711.3 years, male 75.2%) followed up for 39.625.3 months.ResultsK19, EpCAM and CD117 expression was detected in tumour cells of 10.11, 15.38 and 3.7% HCCs, respectively. Female sex was correlated with EpCAM immunohistochemical expression (P=0.035), whereas no other significant relationship with clinicopathological parameters was observed. K19 positivity tended to be correlated with microvascular invasion (P=0.054). In univariate analysis, K19 positivity and microvascular invasion were found to be associated with decreased recurrence-free survival (P<0.001 and P=0.004, respectively) and overall survival (P=0.002 and P=0.029, respectively). EpCAM and CD117 positivity was not correlated with patient survival. In multivariate analysis, K19 positivity emerged as an independent predictor of recurrence-free survival (odds ratio=7.84, 95% confidence interval=2.658-22.912, P<0.001) and overall survival (odds ratio=3.845, 95% confidence interval=1.401-10.549, P=0.009).ConclusionOur study confirms the prognostic significance of K19 expression in Caucasian patients with HCCs, providing further evidence that it may be used to stratify HCC according to tumour aggressiveness.
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