Correlation Between Expression Of P38MAPK Signaling Molecule And VEGF In Primary Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the expression of phosphorylated p38MAPK (p-p38) and Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in primary hepatocellular carcinoma, correlation between p-p38, VEGF and clinicopathologic features.Methods: Using the pv-9000 Polymer Detection System for immuno-histochemical staining to examine the expression of p-p38 and VEGF in 53 primary hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and in 30 adjacent normal hepatic tissues. Analysis the relationship p-p38,VEGF and clinicopathologic features;such as age,gender,serum concentration of AFP,tumor size,tumor metastasis and cancer embolus.Results: The positive expression of VEGF in PHC tissue was located in nucleus of cancer cells,VEGF is negative expression in 30 djacent normal hepatic tissues, VEGF positive expression rate in 53 hepatocellular carcinoma tissues is 56.6%(30/53), significantly higher than that of the adjacent normal tissues, P<0.01. tumor metastasis(76.7%,23/30), non-tumor metastasis(30.4%,7/23),hepatocellular carcinoma with cancer embolus(80.0%,20/25),were significantly higher than those of no cancer embolus ; The VEGF positive rates in poorly differentiated carcinoma(68.8%, 22/32), were significantly higher than those of the well-differentiated or moderately differentiated (38.1%, 8/21), P<0.05.The VEGF positive rate is not significantly correlated with age,gender,serum concentration of AFP and tumor size, P>0.05.The positive expression of p-p38 in PHC tissue was located in cytoplasm of cancer cells,p-p38 is negative expression in 30 adjacent normal hepatic tissues, p-p38 positive expression rate in 53 gastric cancer tissues is 60.4% (32/53), significantly higher than that of the adjacent normal tissues, P<0.01. The p-p38 positive rates in tumor metastasis(80.0%,24/30), non-tumor metastasis(34.8%,8/23), hepatocellularcarcinoma with cancer embolus(84.0%,21/25),were significantly higher than those of no cancer embolus(39.3,11/28) ; poorly differentiated carcinoma(71.9%, 23/32), were significantly higher than those of the well-differentiated or moderately differentiated (42.9%, 9/21),P<0.05. The p-p38 positive rate is not significantly correlated with age,gender,serum concentration of AFP and tumor size, P>0.05. 22 p-p38 protein expressed positively in 32 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma tissues which were positively expressed of VEGF, and 13 cases were negatively expressed of p-p38 protein in 21 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma tissues with VEGF negative expression. Statistical analysis suggested a significant correlation between p-p38 and VEGF (r=0.412, P=0.001)Conclusion: (1)p-p38 and VEGF are significantly correlated with hepatocellular carcinoma differentiation, cancer embolus and tumor metastasis. they may play a key role in invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. There was positive correlation and promote between expression of p-p38 and VEGF in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues.(2)The combinatory investigation of p-p38 and VEGF may be helpful to judge prognostic of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma .