Comprehensive clinicopathologic study of alpha fetoprotein‐expression in a large cohort of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Publication type:
Journal article
Metadata:
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Alpha fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used diagnostic and prognostic serum biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Despite its wide clinical use, a systematic clinicopathologic study comparing AFP expression in HCC in situ with serum AFP concentrations has not yet been conducted. To analyze AFP expression in a large cohort of patients by immunohistochemistry, we employed a comprehensive tissue microarray with 871 different HCCs of overall 561 patients. AFP immunoreactivity was detected in only about 20% of HCC core biopsies, whereas 48.9% of the patients displayed increased serum values (&gt;12 ng/mL). Immunostaining of whole tumor slides revealed that lack of detectable immunoreactivity in core biopsies in a subgroup of patients with elevated AFP serum concentrations is due to heterogeneous intratumoral AFP expression. Serum AFP concentrations and AFP expression in situ were moderately correlated (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient .53, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 1.2e − 13). High AFP expression detected in serum (&gt;227.3 ng/mL) or in situ predicted unfavorable prognosis and was associated with vascular invasion, higher tumor grade and macrotrabecular‐massive tumor subtype. Multivariate and ROC curve analysis demonstrated that high AFP concentrations in serum is an independent prognostic parameter and represents the more robust prognostic predictor in comparison to AFP immunostaining of core biopsies. The previously published vessels encapsulating tumor clusters (VETC) pattern turned out as an additional, statistically independent prognostic parameter. AFP‐positivity was associated with increased tumor cell apoptosis, but not with increased vascular densities. Additionally, AFP‐positive tumors displayed increased proliferation rates, urea cycle dysregulation and signs of genomic instability, which may constitute the basis for their increased aggressiveness.</jats:p>
Autoren
  • Dirk Andreas Ridder
  • Arndt Weinmann
  • Mario Schindeldecker
  • Lana Louisa Urbansky
  • Kristina Berndt
  • Tiemo Sven Gerber
  • Hauke Lang
  • Johannes Lotz
  • Karl J Lackner
  • Wilfried Roth
  • Beate Katharina Straub
DOI
10.1002/ijc.33898
eISSN
1097-0215
ISSN
0020-7136
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
6
Zeitschrift
International Journal of Cancer
Sprache
en
Online publication date
2021
Paginierung
1053 - 1066
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2022
Status
Published
Herausgeber
Wiley
Herausgeber URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33898
Datum der Datenerfassung
2023
Titel
Comprehensive clinicopathologic study of alpha fetoprotein‐expression in a large cohort of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
150

Data source: Crossref

Other metadata sources:
Author's licence
CC-BY-NC-ND
Autoren
  • Dirk Andreas Ridder
  • Arndt Weinmann
  • Mario Schindeldecker
  • Lana Louisa Urbansky
  • Kristina Berndt
  • Tiemo Sven Gerber
  • Hauke Lang
  • Johannes Lotz
  • Karl J Lackner
  • Wilfried Roth
  • Beate Katharina Straub
Hosting institution
Universitätsbibliothek Mainz
Sammlungen
  • JGU-Publikationen
Resource version
Published version
DOI
10.1002/ijc.33898
File(s) embargoed
false
Open access
true
ISSN
1097-0215
Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung
6
Zeitschrift
International journal of cancer
Schlüsselwörter
  • 610 Medizin
  • 610 Medical sciences
Sprache
eng
Open access status
Open Access
Paginierung
1053 - 1066
Datum der Veröffentlichung
2022
Public URL
https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/7688
Herausgeber
Wiley-Liss
Datum der Datenerfassung
2022
Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde
2022
Zugang
Public
Titel
Comprehensive clinicopathologic study of alpha fetoprotein-expression in a large cohort of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
Ausgabe der Zeitschrift
150

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comprehensive_clinicopatholog-20220902141107519.pdf

Data source: OPENSCIENCE.UB

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