Dysplastic nodules with glypican-3 positive immunostaining: a risk for early hepatocellular carcinoma

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 1; p. e87120
• Main Authors: Gong, Li, Wei, Long-Xiao, Ren, Pin, Zhang, Wen-Dong, Liu, Xiao-Yan, Han, Xiu-Juan, Yao, Li, Zhu, Shao-Jun, Lan, Miao, Li, Yan-Hong, Zhang, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 31-01-2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Androgen receptors; Cancer; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - genetics; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - metabolism; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - pathology; Cirrhosis; Deactivation; Female; Gene polymorphism; Genetic polymorphisms; Glypicans - immunology; Heparan sulfate proteoglycans; Hepatitis B surface antigen; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Heterozygosity; Hospitals; Humans; Hyperplasia; Immunohistochemistry; Immunoreactivity; Inactivation; Laboratories; Lesions; Liver; Liver - metabolism; Liver - pathology; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Liver Neoplasms - genetics; Liver Neoplasms - metabolism; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Loci; Loss of Heterozygosity; Male; Medical research; Medicine; Microsatellite Repeats - genetics; Microsatellites; Middle Aged; Mosaicism; Nodules; Pathology; Patients; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Genetic; Precancerous Conditions - genetics; Precancerous Conditions - metabolism; Precancerous Conditions - pathology; Proteins; Receptors, Androgen - genetics; Risk Factors; Rodents; Squamous cell carcinoma; Tumors; X Chromosome Inactivation - genetics; X-chromosome inactivation
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087120

Glypican-3 (GPC3) has been reported to be a novel serum and histochemical marker for HCC. The positivity or negativity for GPC3 in hepatic precancerous lesions, such as dysplastic nodules (DN), has also been described. Moreover, our previous studies have demonstrated that some DN in liver cirrhosis represent monoclonal hyperplasia, and confirmed their neoplastic nature. However, additional studies must be performed to investigate further the relationship between DN with GPC3 positivity and HCC. Thus, we first investigated the expression of GPC3 in 136 HCC and 103 small DN (less than 1 cm in diameter) by immunohistochemical staining and determined the clonality of 81 DN from female patients using X-chromosome inactivation mosaicism and polymorphism of androgen receptor (AR) gene. Then we examined these samples for chromosomal loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at 11 microsatellite polymorphism sites. The results demonstrated that GPC3 immunoreactivity was detected in 103 of 136 HCC (75.7%) and 19 of 103 DN (18.4%), and the positive ratio correlated with HBsAg positivity. Clonality assays showed that 15 GPC3-positive DN from female patients, including 12 high-grade DN (HGDN), and 28 (42.4%) of 66 GPC3-negative DN, were monoclonal. In addition, among 19 GPC3-positive DN, chromosomal LOH was found at loci D6S1008 (100%, 19/19), D8S262 (52.6%, 10/19) and D11S1301 (57.9%, 11/19). However, the LOH frequency in GPC3-negative DN was 5.95% (5/84), 23.8% (20/84), and 4.76% (4/84) in three loci, respectively. Thus, we concluded that GPC3-positive DN, especially GPC3-positive HGDN, was really a late premalignant lesion of HCC.