The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of sal-like protein 4 (SALL4)-immunopositive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Solitary HCCs that were surgically treated at the University of Tokyo Hospital between 2000 and 2008 were the subject of this study. Diffuse, non-punctate nuclear immunoreactivity to SALL4 was observed in 47 of 337 HCCs (13.9%). Compared to patients with SALL4-negative HCC, patients with SALL4-positive HCC were younger (mean 59.2 years vs. 65.2 years), more frequently female (44.7% vs. 18.3%) and positive for hepatitis B virus angigen (42.6% vs. 18.6%). They had much higher serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein (median 3976.5 ng/ml vs. 14.0 ng/ml) (P < 0.001). Liver function tended to be favourable, as was shown by less indocyanine green retention at 15 minutes (ICG15), in patients with SALL4-positive HCCs (P < 0.001). Histologically, SALL4-positive HCCs exhibited less histological differentiation (P < 0.001) and had a higher frequency of micro- or macrovascular invasion (72.3% vs. 54.1%, P = 0.019) and intrahepatic metastasis (34.0% vs. 19.3%, P = 0.022) than SALL4-negative HCCs. SALL4-positive HCCs were more frequently immunoreactive for cytokeratin 19 (42.6% vs. 11.7%, P < 0.001) and EpCAM (51.1% vs. 8.3%, P < 0.001). The log-rank test indicated short-term disease-free survival (< 1 year) of patients with SALL4-positive HCC was worse than those with SALL4-negative HCC (P = 0.019). Multivariate analyses, however, failed to show the prognostic significance of SALL4 immunoreactivity in HCCs. In conclusion, SALL4-immunopositive HCCs constitute a subset with characteristic patient backgrounds and somewhat aggressive behavior, as was manifested by frequent vascular invasion and intrahepatic metastasis. There was little prognostic significance of SALL4 immunoreactivity in HCCs.
CITATION STYLE
Shibahara, J., Ando, S., Hayashi, A., Sakamoto, Y., Hesegawa, K., Kokudo, N., & Fukayama, M. (2014). Clinicopathologic characteristics of SALL4-immunopositive hepatocellular carcinoma. SpringerPlus, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-721
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.