Carcinohistogenesis and expression of alpha fetoprotein in experimental hepatocarcinoma

Abstract

Subjective: The purpose of investigating the carcinohistogenesis of hepatocarcinoma and alpha-fetoprotein AFP expression in oncogenesis was to lay a morphological foundation for diagnosing and curing hepatocarcinoma. Methods: Experimental hepato carcinoma of Wistar rats induced by 0.04% 3′-Me-DAB and killed according to different dates. All the animals were killed during a period of 36 weeks. The morphologic changes of dynamics and expression of (AFP) with immunohistochemical method were observed. Results: Hyperplasia of oval cells was multipotento-differential stem cell. It was further differentiated into transitional cell and embryoid small liver cell, and the latter can form pattern of atypical hyperplasia, which scattered or crowded. The AFP in these cells showed was a strong positive expression. The feature was different between crowded small hepatocytes of atypical hyperplasia and proliferative nodules of hepatocytes. The former was similar to morphologic character of liver cell carcinoma. The oval cells were toward biliary duct differentiation to form fibroadenomatoid structure, and atypical hyperplasia was also seen in their epithelial cells. Of all the 58 experimental animals there were 26 with hepatocarcinoma, among which 18 cases of hepatocytic carcinoma and 8 mixed carcinoma were found. The hepatocellular carcinoma showed AFP strong positive expression In the host hestocytes around cancer and hepatocytes of non-neoplastic animals of a later experimental period also expressed various degrees of AFP positive. Conclusion: Atypical hyperplasia of small hepatocytes and epithelial cells of bile canaliculi were the precancerous lesions of hepatocellular carcinoma and bile duct carcinoma.