Furthermore, the results show that a mixed biological phenotype (ie, CK 8, CK 18 and CK 7 and/or CK 19) can be found both among morphologically pure HCCs and peripheral CCs, suggesting that these two forms could share a common histogenesis.
Serum CK19 level might reflect the pathological progression in some HCC and may be a useful marker for predicting tumor metastasis and a therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC patients with metastases.
On the contrary, concurrent CK19 expression and β-catenin mutation was rare and CK19 expression abolished the suppression effect of β-catenin mutation on HCC progression.
Also, the presence of hepatoblastic feature like CK19 in advanced human hepatocellular carcinoma can be used as a predictor of aggressive human hepatocellular carcinoma.
Tumor tissue microarrays of 300 HCC patients who underwent curative resection between 1997 and 2000 were used to detect the expressions of CK10 and CK19.
We examined the 3' overhang and telomere length, mRNA levels of hTERT, POT1, TRF1 and cytokeratin 19 (CK19) in 41 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and adjacent non-HCCs of B viral chronic hepatitis/cirrhosis.
The expression levels of telomerase, CD90, MAGE3, CD133 and CK19 were all significantly associated with high tumor grade and advanced stage in HCC patients (all Ps < 0.05).
Combinatorial analysis revealed that CK19 and HNF1β expression individually exerted additive prognostic adverse effects on HCCs with H3K36me3 positivity.
Regarding the CK profile, only 25 (62%) of 40 HCC specimens showed pure hepatocytic lineage (CKs 8-18), whereas among the remaining 15 HCC specimens, positivity for either CK7 (12 specimens) or CK19 (5 specimens) was observed.
The value of INSRA:INSRB ratio which was increased in <sub>˜</sub>70% of 85 HCC was associated with stem/progenitor cell features such as cytokeratin-19 and α-fetoprotein and correlated with shorter patient survival.
The positive rates of CK7 and CK19 expression were higher in CHCC group than in HCC group (both P < .001), while the positive rates of Glypican-3 and Hepatocyte expression were higher in CHCC group than in ICC group (both P < .001).
K19 protein expression in cohort 2 HCCs (n = 237) was correlated with the clinicopathologic parameters and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of K19, uPAR, VIL2, Snail, Slug, and Twist.