The Expression Of Phosphatase Of Regenerating Liver-3 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective:To investigate expression of phosphatase of regenerating liver-3(PRL-3) and itsrelationship with angiogenesis and clinicopathological features of hepatocellularcarcinoma(HCC).Materials and methods:Twenty-two patients with HCC were from Shandong provincial hospital andidentified by HE-staining. Their HCC tissues and 9 para-carcinoma tissues werecollected.The expression of PRL-3 was examined in paraffin-embedded specimens byimmunohistochemical staining and analyzed by Leica image system. Microvesseldensity(MVD) was counted after CD34-staining. The relationships between PRL-3expression, MVD , clinicopathological features and clinical data were analyzed bySPSS 13.0. A P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:The immunoreactive staining was located in the cytoplasm of HCC andpara-carcinoma but not in stroma. The average of positive area rate of PRL-3 in HCCwas 57.27% ,which was remarkably higher than that in para-carcinoma(28.73%,P<0.01). The expression of PRL-3 did not related with age, family history and tumorsize. The average of MVD in HCC was 44.0/Vf, and had positive correlation with the expression of PRL-3(The correlation coefficient was 0.847. P<0.01 ).Conclusion:These results suggest that the level of PRL-3 can indicate the potential of metastasisto some extent. It may accelarate growth and metastasis of HCC by promotingangiogenesis. Furthermore, it would make PRL-3 a possible target for therapeuticintervention.