Des-γ-carboxyl prothrombin is associated with tumor angiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma
Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 05/16/2012

Matsubara M et al. – Des– γ–carboxyl prothrombin (DCP) production is associated with tumor angiogenesis in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

• The solitary HCCs of 827 patients were classified into 2 groups according to the tumor density at the arterial phase of a dynamic computed tomography scan; the initial clinical data of patients with the hyper- and hypovascular types were compared.
• The HCC tissues from 95 tumors were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining for DCP and phosphorylated KDR, and intratumoral microvessel density (MVD) was analyzed to evaluate microvessel angiogenesis.

• The serum DCP levels (320 ± 3532 mAU/mL) and tumor size (18.4 ± 9.0 mm) of patients with hypervascular HCC were significantly greater than those with hypovascular HCC (38.7 ± 80 mAU/mL and 14.6 ± 5.2 mm, P < 0.001).
• Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the expressions of DCP and phospho-KDR were significantly greater in hypervascular HCC (71.4% and 31.0%, respectively) than in hypovascular HCC (7.6% and 5.7%, respectively).
• Intratumoral MVD was significantly correlated with DCP (r = 0.48, P < 0.0001).