Abstract

Transforming growth Factor-￥a(TGF-￥a) which is thought to be associated in various pysioiogic processes of human body acts as the regulator of normal growth and regeneration of hepatocyte in the liver. There are many reports that TGF-￥a over-expression is observed in some kinds of human cancers, and recent animal experiments using the cancer cell lines prove that hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is developed in transgenic mice created with TGF-￥a gene. It is considered, therefore, that overexpression of TGF-￥a relates to the carcinogenesis of HCC. In this study, we tried to observe the expression of TGF-￥a in human HCC by immunohistochemical staining and to characterize the expression pattern according to the various clinicopathological features such as histologic type and grade of tumor, tumor size, serum AFP level, HBsAg status and preoperative hepatic artery embolization. The specimens in this study were 15 cases of HCC and 10 cases of normal liver as a control group. In cases of HCC, we examined both tumor tissue itself and adjacent non-tumorous liver tissue. Immunohistochemical staining of the specimen was performed using monoclonal Ab to recombinant human TGF-￥a by avidine-biotine-peroxidase complex technique. To see the expression rate of TGF-￥a protein in HCC, 13 cases(86.7%) out of total 15 cases were positive in tumor tissue itself and in adjacent non-tumorous tissue respectively. In the normal liver tissue, only 1 case(10.0%) showed positive expression of TGF-￥a protein. Evaluating the TGF-￥a expression in HCC according to clinicopathologic features, serum HBsAg status was related to the intensity of expression and preoperative hepatic artery embolization to the extent of expression with statistical significance, but histologic type and grade of tumor, tumor size and serum AFP level had no significanct association.In conclusion, we observed the overexpression of TGF-￥a in HCC,which may be associated with the carcinogenesis of human HCC.

• Keywords: TGF-￥a, Immunohistochemistry, Hepatocellular carcinoma