Expression of fragile histidine triad in primary hepatocellular carcinoma and its relation with cell proliferation and apoptosis

AIM: To evaluate the expression of fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene protein, product of a candidate tumor suppressor,and to investigate the relationship between FHIT, cell apoptosis and proliferation, and pathological features of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODS: Forty-seven HCC and ten normal liver specimens were collected during surgical operation between 2001and 2003. FHIT and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)expression were detected by immunohistochemistry, and apoptotic level was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay on the tissue sections.RESULTS: All normal liver tissues showed a strong expression of FHIT, whereas 28 of 47 (59.6%) carcinomas showed a significant loss or absence of FHIT expression (P = 0.001).The proportion of reduced FHIT expression in those carcinomas at stages Ⅲ-Ⅳ (70.6%) and in those with extrahepatic metastasis (86.7%) showed an increasing trend compared with those at stages Ⅰ-Ⅱ (30.8%, P= 0.013) and those without metastasis (46.9%, P = 0.010) respectively. Apoptotic incidence in advanced TNM stage carcinoma and those with positive FHIT expression was higher than that in early stage carcinoma (P = 0.030) and in those with negative FHIT expression (P = 0.044) respectively. The proliferating potential of hepatocellular carcinoma was associated with FHIT expression (P = 0.016) and the aggressive feature (P = 0.019). Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that the survival time of these 47 patients correlated with TNM stage,FHIT expression and metastasis.CONCLUSION: There is marked loss or absence of FHIT expression, as well as abnormal apoptosis-proliferation balance in HCC. FHIT may play an important role in carcinogenesis and development of HCC.

Expression and clinical significance of TAp73α, p53, PCNA and apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To study the prognostic role of TAp73α, p53, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and apoptosis inpatients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) atter surgical tumor ablation.METHODS: Forty-seven human resected HCC tissues and 42 adjacent non-cancerous tissues were studied with 10 normal liver tissues as control group. TAp73α, p53, and PCNA were detected with Elivision immunohistochemistry.Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediatedd-UTP-biotin nick-end labeling (TUNEL) method wasused to detect the apoptosis cells. All clinical and pathological materials were analyzed by SPSS10.0statistical package.RESULTS: TAp73α overexpressed in HCC tissues (36.2%) when compared with adjacent non-cancerous tissues (2.38%, P＜0.005) and normal liver tissues (0, P＜0.01).Mutant type p53 (mt-p53) overexpressed in HCC tissues (38.3%) when contracted with adjacent non-cancerous tissues (16.7%, P＜0.05) and normal liver tissues (0, P＜0.01). Proliferation index (PI) level in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (30.34%±4.46% vs 27.88%±5.89%, t, P= 0.028). Apoptosis index (AI) level in HCC tissues was higher than that in adjacent non-cancerous tissues (8.62%±2.28% vs 7.38%±2.61%, t, P = 0.019). Expression of TAp73α was associated with lymph node metastasis and mt-p53, with r = 0.407 and 0.265, respectively. Expression of mtp53 was associated with Edmondson's stage and AFP, with r = 0.295 and -0.357, respectively. In Kaplan-Meier univariant analysis, TAp73α, AFP, TNM stage, portal vein invasion, liver membrane invasion and HBsAg correlated with prognosis (log rank, P = 0.039, 0.012, 0.002, 0.000,0.014, 0.007, respectively). Multivariant Cox regression analysis showed that TAp73α, AFP, TNM stage, portal vein invasion, liver membrane invasion and age were independent factors of prognosis. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that TAp73α can be used as a prognostic indicator of patients with HCC undergoing surgical tumor ablation. AFP, TNM, portal vein invasion, liver membrane invasion and age also have a potency of predicting the prognosis of HCC.

Attractivity in a Delayed Three-species Ratio-dependent Predator-prey System without Dominating Instantaneous Negative Feedback

Abstract A delayed three-species ratio-dependent predator-prey food-chain model without dominating instantaneous negative feedback is investigated. It is shown that the system is permanent under some appropriate conditions, and sufficient conditions are derived for the global attractivity of the positive equilibrium of the system.

Periodic Solutions of a Delayed Predator-Prey Model with Stage Structure for Prey

A periodic predator-prey model with stage structure for prey and time delays due to negative feed-back and gestation of predator is proposed.By using Gaines and Mawhin's continuation theorem of coincidencedegree theory,sufficient conditions are derived for the existence of positive periodic solutions to the proposedmodel.Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the feasibility of our main result.