Liver biopsies were taken from twelve patients with grade II HCC confined to the liver and twelve patients with non cancerous liver cirrhosis (served as control). RT-PCR of previous genes was evaluated.
HO-1, VEGF, HGF, and TNF-α genes were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in HCC compared to control. Fas-L showed a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in HCC compared to control. TGF-β was higher in HCC than control but the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). HGF showed significant positive correlation with HO-1 (r = 0.8217, P = 0.001).
HCC is associated with increased expression of VEGF, HGF, and TGF-β, and with suppression of Fas-L. In addition, HO-1 is highly significantly expressed in HCC. The significant positive correlation between HO-1 and HGF was first reported in Egyptian human liver biopsies, and this suggests that it may play a role in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma.