The Expression Erythropoietin Receptor In Hepatocelular Carcinoma And Its Relationship With The Microvessal Density

Objective: To explore the relationship between intra tumoral microvessel density and erythropoietin receptor expression in hepatocellular carcinoma,and their relationship with the pathological featuresMethods: With the method of immunohistochemical staining,specimens from 46 HCC patients. 20 hepaticcirrhotics and 10 normal 1iver controls were studied.The microvessels were immunohistochemically labeled with CD34 to assess microvessal density. The relationship between the erythropoietin receptor expression and pathological features as well as microvessel density(MVD)was evaluated.Results: The expression of erythropoietin receptor and MVD in the HCC tissues was much hiher than that in the non—HCC tissues( P<0.05)。Over expression of erythropoietin receptor in HCC was related to the invasion of tumor envelop(x2=6.40,P<0.05),pathological differentiation(x2=12.03,P<0.01)and tumor metastasis(x2=5.62,P<0.05)。MVD in HCC was associated with tumor size(t=2.82,P<0.05),the invasion of tumor envelop(t=3.91,P<0.05),tumor metastasis(t=4.10,P<0.05)and pathological differentiation (t=5.12,P<0.05)。MVD of HCC with positive expression of erythropoietin receptor was much higher than that in HCC with negative expression of erythropoietin receptor (t=5.43,P<0.05)Conclusions: erythropoietin receptor may play a crucial role in the angiogenesis. invasion and metastasis in cases of HCC.