Z Gastroenterol 2005; 43 - 125
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-869772

Expression of matrilin-2 in liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

E Szabó 1, C Páska 1, C Lódi 1, E Batmunkh 1, Á Holczbauer 1, É Korpos 2, F Deák 2, I Kiss 2, A Kiss 1, Z Schaff 1
  • 11st Department of Pathology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 2Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary

Introduction/Aim: Although fibrous tissue is represented at low level in normal liver, ECM modifications have serious consequences in liver diseases, being a part of frontier between blood flow and parenchyma. Matrilins are constituents of the ECM, however their pathophysiological role as well as distribution in liver diseases has not yet been studied. Considering that matrilins have been found to play role in cell growth and tissue remodeling, their possible involvement in carcinogenesis has been raised.

Our goal was to study the expression of Matrilin-2 by real-time PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), surrounding liver parenchyma and normal liver.

Materials And Methods: Seven normal human livers, 10 HCC with cirrhosis and 10 without cirrhosis including respective surrounding tissues were investigated. Matrilin-2 rabbit polyclonal antibodies and laminin mouse monoclonal antibodies were used for immunohistochemistry, confocal laser scanning microscopy and Western blot detections. mRNA expression was measured by real-time PCR using relative quantification to ß-actin expression.

Results: Normal liver showed weak matrilin-2 expression around bile ducts, blood vessels and central veins, while sinusoids were negative. Cirrhotic surrounding tissue of HCC samples showed intensive matrilin-2 staining along sinusoids. Tumorous neovasculature was found to be positive by immunohistochemistry. Co-localization of matrilin-2 with laminin was proved by confocal microscopy. However, neither Western blot analysis nor PCR showed significant differences in matrilin-2 protein and mRNA quantity between normal and tumorous samples.

Conclusion: Co-localization of matrilin-2 with laminin confirms the presence of this protein in basement membrane. Matrilin-2 appears during capillarization in liver cirrhosis and during tumorigenesis, and might be a potential target for influencing vascularization.

The project was supported by grants: Biol 14/2001, NKFP-1/0023/2002, ETT-077/2003, OTKA-T037838