Research On Angiopoietin-2 And E-Cadherin In Primary Liver Carcinoma

Primary liver carcinoma is one malignancy with the characters of rich blood supply, strongly potential invasion and high frequent metastasis.In the invasion and metastasis of liver carcinoma, angiogenesis and the alteration of tumor intercellular adhesion take important roles. In order to investigate the effect mechanism of Angiopoietin-2 and E-Cadherin as well as the cooperation between these two factors in liver carcinoma invasion and metastasis, both mRNA and protein expression levels of Angiopoietin-2 regulating the angiogenesis and E-Cadherin regulating cellular adhesion were assayed with semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase (SQ-RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical method in 30 specimens of primary liver carcinoma. The results showed that:1. The mRNA transcription and protein expression levels of Angiopoietin-2 in primary liver carcinoma were significantly higher than those in tissue surrounding tumor.2. There was a correlation between Angiopoietin-2 expressions and liver carcinoma cell differentiation. This expression level was higher in well differentiation subgroup than that in poor differentiation subgroup. The Angiopoietin-2 expression appeared significantly higher in invasion subgroup comparing with that in non-invasion subgroup.3. The E-Cadherin mRNA transcription and protein expression levels presented higher in liver carcinoma than that in tissue surrounding tumor.4. The E-Cadherin expression levels were related to liver carcinoma differentiation status. The significantly higher expression were found in well differentiation subgroup and non-invasion subgroup, in contrast lower expression in poor differentiation and invasion subgroup.5. Neither Angiopoietin-2 nor E-Cadherin expression were found correlated with liver carcinoma histological types, companying with liver cirrhosis, HBV infection and AFP expression.6. In liver carcinoma, there was a negative correlation between Angiopoietin-2 and E-Cadherin expression.Author concludes that:1. Angiopoietin-2 may promote liver carcinoma progress through its effect of vascular net formation in primary liver carcinoma.2. The high expression on Angiopoietin-2 in poor differentiation and invasion subgroups suggest that Angiopoietin-2 may lead to hepatic vessels hyperplasia and increase the potency of liver carcinoma invasion and metastasis.3. The considerably lower expression of E-Cadherin in primary live carcinoma than tissue surrounding tomor suggests that E-Cadherin may be involved into the regulation of intercellular adhesion in liver carcinoma and increase potential ability of liver carcinoma invasion.4. The high expression of E-Cadherin may inhibit liver carcinoma metastasis and invasion.5. The high expression of Angiopoietin-2 and low expression of E-Cadherin maybe be regarded as an index screening liver carcinoma of strongly potential invasion and high frequent metastasis.Totest expression of Angiopoietin-2 and E-Cadherin may be helpful to evaluate liver carcinoma patient prognosis.