Expression of PCNA and nm23-H1/NDPK in Hepatocellular Carcinoma following transcatheter arterial chemoembolization therapy

AIM:To study the effect of transcatheter arterial Chemoembolization (TACE) on the proliferation and metastasis of the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS:Seventy-two patients with inoperable huge HCC administered from 1992 to 2000 were treated with TACE initially, and then operated following the shrinkage of the tumor. During same periods of treatment, there were comparable 487 HCC patients who were not treated with TACE, of which 32 pairs of patients who met with the criteria were selected for this study based on the 10 items screening criteria including gender, age, history of the disease, BUS examination. Expression of proliferating of cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and nm23-H1 were studied by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS:PCNA label index (PCNA LI) of HCC following TACE was elevated. The distribution of PCNA LI in the range 25 %, 26-50 %, 51-75 % and 75 % is 75 %, 14.3 %, 10.7 % and 0 % in control group, and 35.7 %, 21.4 %, 28.6 % and 14.3 %, in TACE group (P <0.01, n =28), respectively. The expression of nm23-H1 gene exists in both cytoplasm and nuclear with no significant difference between treatment and control group. CONCLUSION:The proliferative activity of residual tumor of HCC following TACE causes the elevation of PCNA LI implying the poor prognosis of long-term effect of TACE, and therefore, it is necessary to perform two stage-resection after TACE of HCC.