Hepatic stellate cells may relate to progression of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
Hirohisa Okabe et al. – Study reports that stromal myofibroblasts may relate to the poor prognoses in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients. Hepatic stellate (HS) cells appear to be involved in the progression of ICC. Methods- Main objectives of this study were to:
- Assess the influence of myofibroblasts on the prognosis of ICC
- Identify HS cells in ICC stroma, and
- Investigate the interaction between HS cells (LI90 and LX-2) and ICC cells (HuCCT-1 and MEC) in vitro
- Association between α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) expression and the prognoses of 46 ICC pts after hepatic resection was evaluated by IHC analysis
- HS cells in myofibroblasts of ICC were identified using Abs for α-SMA, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and desmin
- The influence of HS cells on the invasion and growth of ICC cells was examined in vitro using a coculture system
Results- Pts with high α-SMA expression exhibited the worse outcomes
- Multivariate analyses: high α-SMA expression and positivity for lymph-node metastasis were independent prognostic factors
- Because desmin- or GFAP-positive cells coexpressing α-SMA were observed in the ICC samples, they were considered to be derived from the HS cells
- On coculturing with HS cells, a remarkable increase was observed in the invasion and growth of the two ICC cell lines
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