The impact of interferon gamma receptor expression on the mechanism of escape from host immune surveillance in hepatocellular carcinoma

被引:71
作者
Nagao, M [1 ]
Nakajima, Y [1 ]
Kanehiro, H [1 ]
Hisanaga, M [1 ]
Aomatsu, Y [1 ]
Ko, S [1 ]
Tatekawa, Y [1 ]
Ikeda, N [1 ]
Kanokogi, H [1 ]
Urizono, Y [1 ]
Kobayashi, T [1 ]
Shibaji, T [1 ]
Kanamura, T [1 ]
Ogawa, S [1 ]
Nakano, H [1 ]
机构
[1] Nara Med Univ, Dept Surg 1, Kashihara, Nara 634, Japan
关键词
D O I
10.1053/jhep.2000.16470
中图分类号
R57 [消化系及腹部疾病];
学科分类号
摘要
Interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) plays an important role in host defense mechanism and participates in the progression of chronic liver disease. IFN-gamma exerts its pleiotrophic effects by transcriptional regulation of expression of numerous genes, such as major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and Fas, through interaction with IFN-gamma receptor (IFN-gamma-R). Although hepatocytes in normal liver express weak or no IFN-gamma-R, those in acute and chronic liver disease up-regulate its expression. A study using IFN-gamma-R alpha-chain knock-out mice revealed the actions of IFN-gamma on tumor cells as an extrinsic tumor-suppressor mechanism. However, it is unclear whether or how hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) blocks the signal transduction of IFN-gamma to evade host immune surveillance. We examined the expression of IFN-gamma-R and IFN-gamma-inducible genes in 44 cases with HCC using real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry. In noncancerous liver tissues (n = 38), IFN-gamma-R expression on the cell surface was upregulated in 27 cases. In IFN-gamma-R-negative cases (n = 15), tumor size was larger (P = .032), serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level was higher (P = .001), intrahepatic and extrahepatic metastasis was more common (P = .044 and .013, respectively), and Ki-67 labeling index (LI) was higher (P = .041), compared with IFN-gamma-R-positive cases. Accordingly, the evasion mechanism may play an important role in progression, especially metastasis, in HCC. The significant correlation between the status of IFN-gamma-R and the expression of Fas and MHC implies that the loss of IFN-gamma-R might contribute to the mechanism of escape from host immune rejection in HCC.
引用
收藏
页码:491 / 500
页数:10
相关论文
共 31 条
[31]  
Zaks TZ, 1999, J IMMUNOL, V162, P3273