BACKGROUND:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the world and constitutes the leading cause of cancer-related death among men, and second among women in Taiwan.
Liver cirrhosis and HCC are relatively
prevalent, and 80% to 85% of the patients with these conditions have positive results for
hepatitis B surface
antigen in Taiwan. Only 5% of the general population is
seronegative for all hepatititis B
virus (
HBV) markers. This is the first study to determine the role of
ezrin upon
HBV HCC cell and patients with
HBV HCC undergoing
hepatectomy METHODS:
Immunohistochemical study with
ezrin in 104 human HBV-HCC cases were carried out to investigate its association with the clinicopathological features and the outcomes of 104 HBV-HCC patients undergoing hepatetomy. In addition,
DNA constructs including the
wild type ezrin (wt-ezrin) and
mutant ezrin Tyr353 (Y353) were transfected into Hep3B cell to study its role in
tumor invasion and differentiation. RESULTS:
HBV HCC patients with
ezrin over-expression independently have smaller
tumor size, cirrhotic
liver background, poor
tumor differentiation, and more vascular invasion.
Ezrin expression status has no impact on survival for HBV-HCC patients undergoing
hepatectomy. The in vitro
assay showed that wt-ezrin Hep3B cells have a significant higher level of AFP
secretion and higher invasion ability as compared with the control and Y353-
ezrin Hep3B cells. CONCLUSION:
Ezrin over-expression contributed to de-differentiation and invasion of HBV-HCC cell. HBV-HCC patients with
ezrin over-expression were independently associated with
tumor with smaller size, cirrhotic
liver background, poor differentiation, and vascular invasion.
