Background
/ Aims : Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) is a drug -resistant tumor. The expression of a multidrug resistant gene, P-glycoprotein(P-gp) is a major mechanism of drug resistance. The aims of our study were, firstly, to observe the expression rate of P-gp in HCC tissue obtained by percutaneous fine needle aspiration(PCNA) from stage IV HCC patients; secondly to examine the association between P-gp and chemotherapeutic response ; and finally to investigate the correlation between p53 protein expression and P-gp expression. Subjects and Methods : We studied 29 cases of stage IV HCC treated by systemic chemotherapy. Expression of P-gp and p53 were evaluated by immunohistochmical staining of HCC tissue with human monoclonal anti body, JSB-1(Anti P-gp ) and DO-7(Anti p53), respectively. We analyzes the results of immunohistochmical staining of HCC tissues of the patients in relation to chemotherapeutic response and other clinical charateristics. Results : The expression rate of P-gp was 27.5%. Partial response to anti-cancar chemotherapy was observed in 16.7% of the to chemotherapeutic response, none of the response to anti-caner chemotherapy was observed in 16.7% of the patients. Although we could not see a statisrically significant association between to chemotherapeutic response expression and chemotherapeutic response , none of the response patients showed chemotherapeutic response P-gp expression. p 53 protein expression was found in 45% of the patients. There was no significant correlation between p 53 protein expression and P-gp expression. Conclusions : Although the number of our study subjects was small, chemotherapy- responsive patients didn`t show P-gp expression. P-gp expression might be used as a predictor of response to potentially toxic anti-cancer chemotherapy in HCC patients. Futher study is warranted to confirm our results. (Korean J Hepatol 2001;7 :459 - 466)
