Intrahepatic recurrence after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma: long-term results of treatment and prognostic factors.
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OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term results of treatment and prognostic factors in patients with intrahepatic recurrence after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Recent studies have demonstrated the usefulness of re-resection, transarterial oily chemoembolization (TOCE), or percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) in selected patients with intrahepatic recurrent HCC. The overall results of a treatment strategy combining these modalities have not been fully evaluated, and the prognostic factors determining survival in these patients remain to be clarified. METHODS: Two hundred and forty-four patients who underwent curative resection for HCC were followed for intrahepatic recurrence, which was treated aggressively with a strategy including different modalities. Survival results after recurrence and from initial hepatectomy were analyzed, and prognostic factors were determined by univariate and multivariate analysis using 27 clinicopathologic variables. RESULTS: One hundred and five patients (43%) with intrahepatic recurrence were treated with re-resection (11), TOCE (71), PEIT (6), systemic chemotherapy (8) or conservatively (9). The overall 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates from the time of recurrence were 65.5%, 34.9%, and 19.7%, respectively, and from the time of initial hepatectomy were 78.4%, 47.2%, and 30.9%, respectively. The re-resection group had the best survival, followed by the TOCE group. Multivariate analysis revealed Child's B or C grading, serum albumin < or = 40 g/l, multiple recurrent tumors, recurrence < or = 1 year after hepatectomy, and concurrent extrahepatic recurrence to be independent adverse prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Aggressive treatment with a multimodality strategy could result in prolonged survival in patients with intrahepatic recurrence after curative resection for HCC. Prognosis was determined by the liver function status, interval to recurrence, number of recurrent tumors, any concurrent extrahepatic recurrence, and type of treatment. (+info)
Identification of a cAMP response element within the glucose- 6-phosphatase hydrolytic subunit gene promoter which is involved in the transcriptional regulation by cAMP and glucocorticoids in H4IIE hepatoma cells.
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The expression of a luciferase reporter gene under the control of the human glucose 6-phosphatase gene promoter was stimulated by both dexamethasone and dibutyryl cAMP in H4IIE hepatoma cells. A cis-active element located between nucleotides -161 and -152 in the glucose 6-phosphatase gene promoter was identified and found to be necessary for both basal reporter-gene expression and induction of expression by both dibutyryl cAMP and dexamethasone. Nucleotides -161 to -152 were functionally replaced by the consensus sequence for a cAMP response element. An antibody against the cAMP response element-binding protein caused a supershift in gel-electrophoretic-mobility-shift assays using an oligonucleotide probe representing the glucose 6-phosphatase gene promoter from nucleotides -161 to -152. These results strongly indicate that in H4IIE cells the glucose 6-phosphatase gene-promoter sequence from -161 to -152 is a cAMP response element which is important for the regulation of transcription of the glucose 6-phosphatase gene by both cAMP and glucocorticoids. (+info)
Tumour ablation and hepatic decompensation rates in multi-agent chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma.
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Thirty-seven cirrhotic patients with 62 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) foci--most Child-Pugh class B or C and/or with large, inoperable tumours--underwent 148 sessions of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) using lipiodol, doxorubicin and cisplatin. Treatment efficacy was assessed by serial hepatic arteriography in 34/37 (91.9%) patients and abdominal CT scanning in 3/37 (8.1%) patients. Child-Pugh status was determined prior to each treatment session. Varying degrees of control of tumour neovascularity occurred for a median 390 days (range 90 to > 1680 days) in 33/34 (97.1%) patients in whom progress hepatic arteriography was performed. Ablation of tumour neovascularity occurred in 6/6 (100%), 4/12 (33.3%) and 6/16 (37.5%) patients with HCC diameters < 4 cm, 4-7 cm and > 8 cm, respectively (p < 0.02). Significantly more sessions were required for ablation of larger tumours (p < 0.05). Recurrent HCC was detected in 50% of patients after a median 240 days (range 60-1120 days). Deterioration in Child-Pugh status followed a session of TACE on 19/148 (12.8%) occasions but resulted in unscheduled hospitalization on only 4/148 (2.7%) occasions, the highest incidence (8.3%) in Child-Pugh C patients. Actuarial survival was 27/36 (75.0%) at 6 months, 17/34 (50.0%) at 12 months, 14/34 (41.2%) at 18 months, 9/31 (29.0%) at 24 months and 4/27 (14.8%) at 36 months. Multi-agent TACE with lipiodol, doxorubicin and cisplatin provides a useful anti-tumour effect, even in cirrhotic patients with large HCCs. The incidence of clinically significant deterioration in hepatic function due to ischaemia of non-tumorous liver is acceptably low, even in Child-Pugh C patients. (+info)
Clinical significance of circulating anti-p53 antibodies in European patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
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p53 alterations are considered to be predictive of poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and may induce a humoral response. Anti-p53 serum antibodies were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using purified recombinant human p53 on 130 European HCC patients before treatment and during the clinical course of the disease. p53 immunohistochemistry was performed on tumours from the 52 patients who underwent surgery, and DNA sequencing analysis was initiated when circulating anti-p53 antibodies were detected. Nine (7%) HCC patients had anti-p53 serum antibodies before treatment. During a mean period of 30 months of follow-up, all the negative patients remained negative, even when recurrence was observed. Of the nine positive patients, eight were still positive 12-30 months after surgery. The presence of anti-p53 serum antibodies was correlated neither with mutation of the p53 gene nor the serum alpha-fetoprotein levels and clinicopathological characteristics of the tumours. However, a greater incidence of vascular invasion and accumulation of p53 protein were observed in the tumours of these patients (P<0.03 and P<0.01 respectively) as well as a better survival rate without recurrence (P = 0.05). In conclusion, as was recently shown in pancreatic cancer, anti-p53 serum antibodies may constitute a marker of relative 'good prognosis' in a subgroup of patients exhibiting one or several markers traditionally thought to be of bad prognosis. (+info)
Mutant p53 can provoke apoptosis in p53-deficient Hep3B cells with delayed kinetics relative to wild-type p53.
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Wild-type (wt) p53 frequently induces apoptosis when expressed in tumor cells whereas mutant p53 acts as an oncoprotein and consequently, stimulates cell proliferation. We report here exceptions to that rule. p53 conformational mutant 175H and DNA contact mutant 273H provoke apoptosis in human p53-deficient Hep3B hepatoma cells with delayed kinetics relative to wt p53. Similarly, c-Myc strongly stimulates apoptosis in these cells. In contrast, viral oncoproteins E1A and E7, and the cellular oncoprotein MDM-2, fail to elicit cytocidal responses. Efficient apoptotic cell death by mutant p53 requires oligomerization as 175H and 273H with deletions between amino acid residues 326 and 347 of the oligomerization domain are nontoxic. Apoptosis by mutant or wt p53 was significantly inhibited by the serine protease inhibitor AEBSF but not by the inactive analog AEBSA. Together, these results suggest that a wt p53-independent control mechanism is operational in Hep3B cells that eliminates cells upon sensing illegitimate proliferation signals originating from certain oncoproteins, including mutant p53 and Myc. We suggest that some tumor cell types lack p53 altogether because they tolerate neither wild-type nor mutant forms of the protein. (+info)
Enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis is associated with increased expression of the mitochondrial ATP-dependent Lon protease.
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Rats bearing the Zajdela hepatoma tumor and T3-treated hypothyroid rats were used to study the role of protein degradation in the process of mitochondrial biogenesis. It was shown that the activity, protein and mRNA levels of the ATP-dependent Lon protease increased in rapidly growing Zajdela hepatoma cells. The increase in the rate of mitochondrial biogenesis by thyroid hormone was similarly accompanied by enhanced expression of the Lon protease. The results imply that mitochondrial biogenesis in mammalian cells is, at least partially, regulated by the matrix Lon protease. (+info)
Homologous regulation of the alpha2C-adrenoceptor subtype in human hepatocarcinoma, HepG2.
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1. Previous studies of the regulation of the alpha2C-adrenoceptor in OK and in transfected cells have led to discrepant conclusions. In the present work, we examined the homologous regulation of the human alpha2C-adrenoceptor in the hepatocarcinoma cell-line, HepG2; a model which expresses this subtype spontaneously. 2. Short-period treatment of the cells with UK14304 provoked neither a diminution of the potency of the alpha2-agonist to inhibit forskolin-induced cyclic AMP-accumulation nor a change in the degree of receptor coupling to G-proteins. 3. Long-period exposure to UK14304 resulted in a large reduction of [3H]MK912 binding sites (55% decrease). The action of UK14304 was dose-dependent (EC50 = 190 +/- 45 nM), rapid (t1/2 = 4.2 h) and reversible. Receptor down-regulation was also observed with clonidine or (-)adrenaline (38 and 36% decrease, respectively) and was blocked by the addition of alpha2-antagonists. 4. Conversely to that observed with alpha2-agonists, treatment of the cells with RX821002 or yohimbine alone, but not with phentolamine, promoted a significant increase of the receptor expression. 5. The observed alterations of receptor density are not the reflection of changes at the alpha2C4 mRNA level. Estimation of the receptor protein turnover and measurement of its half-life demonstrated that down-regulation by alpha2-agonists and up-regulation by alpha2-antagonists, with inverse-agonist efficacy, are respectively the consequence of increased and decreased rate of receptor degradation. 6. In conclusion, our data show that alpha2C-adrenoceptor does not undergo desensitization but is down-regulated in HepG2. The lack of desensitization agrees with previous results obtained in cells transfected with the alpha2C4 gene, but not with observations made in OK cells. Inversely, down-regulation fits with results obtained in OK but not in transfected cells. The reasons for these discrepancies are discussed. Our results also demonstrated that certain alpha2-antagonists behave as inverse agonist on the HepG2 model and thus provide for the first time evidence of inverse efficacy of antagonists on a cellular model expressing physiological level of a wild-type alpha2-adrenoceptor. (+info)
Variation of liver-type fatty acid binding protein content in the human hepatoma cell line HepG2 by peroxisome proliferators and antisense RNA affects the rate of fatty acid uptake.
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The liver-type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP), a member of a family of mostly cytosolic 14-15 kDa proteins known to bind fatty acids in vitro and in vivo, is discussed to play a role in fatty acid uptake. Cells of the hepatoma HepG2 cell line endogenously express this protein to approximately 0.2% of cytosolic proteins and served as a model to study the effect of L-FABP on fatty acid uptake, by manipulating L-FABP expression in two approaches. First, L-FABP content was more than doubled upon treating the cells with the potent peroxisome proliferators bezafibrate and Wy14,643 and incubation of these cells with [1-14C]oleic acid led to an increase in fatty acid uptake rate from 0.55 to 0.74 and 0.98 nmol/min per mg protein, respectively. In the second approach L-FABP expression was reduced by stable transfection with antisense L-FABP mRNA yielding seven clones with L-FABP contents ranging from 0.03% to 0.14% of cytosolic proteins. This reduction to one sixth of normal L-FABP content reduced the rate of [1-14C]oleic acid uptake from 0.55 to 0. 19 nmol/min per mg protein, i.e., by 66%. The analysis of peroxisome proliferator-treated cells and L-FABP mRNA antisense clones revealed a direct correlation between L-FABP content and fatty acid uptake. (+info)