Expression And Signigicance Of CXCL-12/CXCR-7 In HBV Related HCC

Objective:The experiment was designed to investigate the relationship between the expression of CXCL-12 protein as well as CXCR-7 protein in HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)and clinicopathologic features of HBV-related HCC.Method:According to the proposed inclusion criteria,we collected the samples of cancer tissues and corresponding para-cancer tissue from 41 HBV-associated HCC patients who have had a partial hepatectomy in the first affiliated hospital of the university of South China from 2012 to 2017.The basic information and clinical data of these patients were collected.Paraffin sections,postoperative dewaxing,hydration,and immunohistochemical staining were performed on the patients’ pathological tissues.The staining results was divided into negative protein expression and positive protein expression by using a second-grade scoring method,which is based on the degree of staining of the pathological sections and percentage of positive cells.Statistical analysis was used to analyze the expression and correlation of CXCR-7 protein and CXCL-12 protein in cancer tissues and adjacent tissues of HBV-related liver cancer patients.The study also explored the relationship between the two proteins expression and patients’ clinical characteristic,including gender,age,liver function,alpha-fetoprotein(AFP),hepatitis B e antigen(HBeAg),antiviral therapy,tumor size,Barcelona clinic liver cancer(BCLC)stage,differentiation,cirrhosis,portal vein tumor thrombus,ascites and other clinicopathological features.Results:1.The positive expression rates of CXCR-7 protein in HBV-related HCC tissues and the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues were 75.6%(31/41)and 26.8%(11/41)(P<0.05).Similarly,the CXCL-12 protein positive expression rates were 73.2%(30/41)and 22.0%(9/41)respectively in HBV-related HCC tissues and the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues.The expression of CXCL-12 and CXCR-7 protein in HBV related hepatocellular carcinoma were significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues(P<0.05).2.Spearman rank correlation analysis found that there was a positive correlation between CXCR-7 protein and CXCL-12 protein expression in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma(r=0.482,P<0.05).3.There were no statistically significant association between the expression of CXCR-7 and patients’ sex,age,liver function,ascites,BCLC stage,AFP,HBeAg and antiviral therapy in cancer tissues(P>0.05).Similar results were received in CXCL-12 group.In contrast,the expression of CXCR-7 protein and CXCL-12 protein exhibited significant correlation with tumor size,differentiation,cirrhosis,and portal vein tumor thrombosis in HBV-related HCC(P<0.05).Conclusion:The expression of CXCR-7 protein and CXCL-12 protein in HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma were higher than that in adjacent tissues,and there was a positive correlation between the expression of two proteins in HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma.The expression of CXCR-7 protein and CXCL-12 protein were related to tumor size,differentiation,cirrhosis,and portal vein tumor thrombus.