表皮型脂肪酸结合蛋白在不同种属肝癌组织中的高表达及其临床意义

Clinical significance of up-regulated expression of epidermal fatty acid binding protein in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues from different species

目的:进一步验证表皮型脂肪酸结合蛋白(epidermal fatty acid binding protein,E-FABP)在不同种属的肝癌组织中的差异表达,分析其与肝癌患者临床病理指标的相关性,以探讨E-FABP在肝癌诊断及治疗中的意义.方法:应用免疫组织化学染色方法检测E-FABP在人、低等灵长类动物树鼩和啮齿类动物大鼠的肝癌及其相应癌旁组织以及正常肝组织中的差异表达情况;应用反转录-聚合酶反应(reverse transcription PCR,RT-PCR)技术检测E-FABP mRNA在60例人肝癌及其相应的癌旁组织中的差异表达情况.应用统计学方法分析E-FABP mRNA表达水平改变与肝癌患者的临床病理特征、血清甲胎蛋白(alphafetoprotein,AFP)水平的相关性.结果:免疫组织化学染色结果显示E-FABP蛋白在人、树鼩和大鼠肝癌组织中的表达均明显上调(F值分别为12.314、11.387和11.206,P值均<0.05);RT-PCR检测结果显示E-FABP mRNA在人肝癌组织中的表达明显上调(F=12.815,P<0.05);E-FABP mRNA表达水平与肝癌患者的临床病理特征的关系分析显示E-FABP在肝脏组织的高表达可能与肝癌的转移有关、E-FABP和AFP联合检测有可能提高肝癌的早期诊断率.结论:E-FABP有可能作为新的生物标志应用于肝癌的预测转移和早期诊断;E-FABP在不同种属的肝癌组织中共同高表达这一现象,提示其可能是肝癌发生发展过程中的关键分子之一,有可能作为防治肝癌的分子靶标.

AIM： To investigate the differential expression of epidermal fatty acid binding protein （E-FABP） in hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） tissues fromdifferent species and to analyze the relationship between the expression of E-FABP and clinicopathological parameters of HCC. METHODS： Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the expression of E-FABP in tissue samples of HCC, tumor-adjacent liver samples and normal liver samples collected from human, tree shrew and rats. Reverse transcription PCR （RT-PCR） was used to detect the expression of E-FABP mRNA in 60 human HCC and matched tumor-adjacent specimens. Statistical analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between E-FABP expression and clinicopathological parameters of HCC, including serum alpha-fetoprotein （AFP）. RESULTS： The expression of E-FABP protein increased significantly in HCC tissues of all the three species （all P ＆lt; 0.05）. E-FABP mRNA expression increased significantly in human HCC tissues （P ＆lt; 0.05）. Analysis of the relationship between expression of E-FABP and clinicopathological parameters of HCC showed that E-FABP expression was related to HCC metastasis. Combined detection of liver E-FABP and serum AFP might be helpful to detect early HCC. CONCLUSION： E-FABP may be used as a biomarker for predicting HCC metastasis and diagnosing early HCC. Since E-FABP is differentially expressed in HCC tissues of different species, it may play a key role in hepatocarcinogenesis and therefore might be used as a target for preventing or treating HCC.