[Expression and clinical significance of VEGF and MMP-9 in hepatocellular carcinoma].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) are related to invasiveness, angiogenesis, and prognosis of malignancies. However, the reports on the results of VEGF and MMP-9 in estimating the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients are different. This study was to investigate the expression and clinical value of VEGF and MMP-9 in HCC patients.

METHODS: The expression of MMP-9 and VEGF in 80 specimens of HCC was detected by immunohistochemistry. Of the 80 patients, 48 had tumor recurred within 2 years after operation. Correlations of the expression of MMP-9 and VEGF to clinicopathologic features were analyzed. Cox regression model was used to analyze the recurrence risk factors after hepatectomy.

RESULTS: MMP-9 and VEGF were expressed in cytoplasm. The positive rates of MMP-9 and VEGF were significantly higher in recurrent group than in non-recurrent group (50.0% vs. 15.6%, and 87.5% vs. 59.4%, P<0.05). The expression of MMP-9 was positively correlated to that of VEGF (rs=0.36, P<0.01), and both were positively correlated to recurrence of HCC (P<0.01). The 1-, 2-, and 3-year tumor-freely survival rates were significantly higher in VEGF-negative group than in VEGF-positive group (85.7% vs. 58.0%, 71.4% vs. 38.9%, and 66.3% vs. 33.9%, P <0.01), and were significantly higher in MMP-9-negative group than in MMP-9-positive group (72.4% vs. 50.0%, 63.8% vs. 14.1%, and 55.5% vs. 14.1%,P <0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that preoperative disseminated nodules, tumor micrometastasis, and the expression of MMP-9 and VEGF were independent recurrence risk factors.

CONCLUSION: The expression of MMP-9 and VEGF in HCC tissues is closely correlated to the recurrence of HCC after hepatectomy, and could be used to estimate the risk of postoperative recurrence of HCC.