Relationship between microvessel density and telomerase activity in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

To study the relationship between microvessel density (MVD), telomerase activity and biological characteristics in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). S-P immunohistochemical method and telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) were respectively used to analyze the MVD and telomerase activity in 58 HCC and adjacent normal tissues. The MVD in HCC with metastasis, lower differentiation or without intact capsule was significantly higher than that in HCC with intact capsule, higher differentiation, or without metastasis. While MVD had no relationship with tumor size, hepatic virus infection and other clinical factors. Telomerase activity was related to differentiation degree, but not to tumor size or histological grade. MVD in HCC with telomerase activity was higher than that in HCC without telomerase activity. MVD and telomerase activity may serve as diagnostic criteria of HCC in earlier stage. Meanwhile, there may be a cooperative effect between MVD and telomerase on the growth and metastasis of HCC.