Expression Of EphA2mRNA And E-cadherin In Hepatocellular Carcinomaand Paracarcinomatous Tissues

Background Members of the protein superfamily of transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases are key components of intercellular signal transduction pathways that elicit appropriate cellular responses to environmental Cues during development of multicellular organisms.Recently,overexpression of EphA2, a member of the Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases, has been reported in several cancers.Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of EphA2mRNA and E-cadherin in hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods we detected the expression levels of EphA2mRNA by ISH(In situ hybridization) and also the levels of E-cadherin by Immunohistochemistry technique in 53 cases of human HCCs and their corresponding paracarcinomatous tissues.Results EphA2mRNA expression levels were significantly higher in HCC(81.13%)than in paracarcinomatous tissues(30.19%). E-cadherin expression levels were significantly lower in HCC(33.96%)than in paracarcinomatous tissues( 100.00%). Decreased expression of E-cadherin and increased expression of EphA2mRNA were all correlated with HCC Edmondson grade.Moreover, there was a negative correlation between EphA2mRNA expression and E-cadherin expression.Conclusions EphA2 and E-cadherin expressions may be involved in development and progression of HCC,the combined measurement of these two may be useful for HCC recurrence and prognosis.