Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research (Nov 2010)

Expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 in human hepatocellular carcinoma and its role in portal vein tumor thrombus

  • Wu Mengchao,
  • Xie Dong,
  • Hu Huasheng,
  • Xue Jie,
  • Shi Jie,
  • Guo Weixing,
  • Li Nan,
  • Cheng Shuqun

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-9966-29-156
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 29, no. 1
p. 156

Abstract

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Abstract Background This study was conducted to investigate the expression of CXCR4 in portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) tissue and its possible role in the invasiveness of tumor thrombus cells. Methods We detected differential expression of CXCR4 between PVTT and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by an immunohistochemical assay. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference and a migration assay were performed on human primary cells derived from PVTT to study the impact of CXCR4 on the invasiveness of HCC. Results The expression of CXCR4 in tumor thrombus tissue was higher than that in HCC tissue. The invasion ratio of PVTT cells was significantly decreased (P Conclusions These results indicate that CXCR4 is an effective curative target for hepatocellular carcinomas with PVTT.