Low glucose metabolism in hepatocellular carcinoma with GPC3 expression

AIM To investigate the relationship between glucose metabolism and glypican-3(GPc3)expression in hepatocellular carcinoma(Hcc).METHODSImmunohistochemical staining of pathological samples for GPc3 and glucose transporter 1(GLUT1),and whole-body ^(18)F-FDG PET/c T for measuring tumour glucose uptake were performed in 55 newly diagnosed Hcc patients.The maximum standard uptake value(s UVmax)and tumour-to-non-tumourous liver uptake(T/NT)ratio were used to quantify ^(18)F-FDG uptake.In vitro ^(18)F-FDG uptake assay of GPc3-expressing Hep G2 and non-GPc3-expressing RH7777 cel ls was used to examine the effect of GPc3 in cellular glucose metabolism.The relationships between GPc3 expression and ^(18)F-FDG uptake,GLUT1 expression,tumour differentiation,and other clinical indicators were analysed using spearman rank correlation,univariateand multiple logistic regression analyses.RESULTSPositive GPc3 expression was observed in 67.3%of Hcc patients,including 75.0%of those with well or moderately differentiated Hcc and 36.4%of those with poorly differentiated Hcc.There was an inverse relationship between GPc3 expression and s UVmax(Spearman correlation coefficient=-0.281,P=0.038)and a positive relationship between GLUT1 expression and sU Vmax(Spearman correlation coefficient=0.681,P<0.001)in patients with Hcc.Univariate analysis showed that two glucose metabolic parameters(sU Vmax and T/NT ratio),tumour differentiation,lymph node metastasis,and TNM stage were all significantly associated with GPc3 expression(P<0.05),whereas GLUT1 expression,sex,age,tumour size,intrahepatic lesion number,and distant metastasis showed no statistical association(P>0.05).Further multivariate analysis revealed that only the T/N ratio was significantly correlated with GPC3 expression in patients with Hcc(P<0.05).In vitro assay revealed that the uptake of ^(18)F-FDG in GPc3-expressing HepG2 cells was significantly lower than that of non-GPc3-expressing RH7777 cells(t=-20.352,P<0.001).CONCLUSIONThe present study demonstrated that GPc3 expression is inversely associated with glucose metabolism,suggesting that GPc3 may play a role in regulating glucose metabolism in Hcc.