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AhR expression is increased in hepatocellular carcinoma

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Abstract

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor implicated in multiple cellular processes and its expression has been shown to play a critical role in tumorigenesis. However, the role of AhR in tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated the role of AhR in hepatocellular carcinoma tumorigenesis and progression by (a) measuring the expression levels of AhR in liver lesions and (b) assessing the correlation between AhR expression and clinicopathologic parameters. The tissue microarray used in this study contained hepatocellular carcinoma tissues (n = 94), cancer adjacent normal hepatic tissues (n = 5) and normal hepatic tissues (n = 5), which were immunohistochemically assessed for AhR expression. Significantly stronger AhR staining was observed for hepatocellular carcinoma tissues than for cancer adjacent normal hepatic tissues (P = 0.003) and normal hepatic tissues (P = 0.004). In addition, AhR expression was associated with T stage (P = 0.03). The results from this study suggest that an increase in AhR expression is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma progression and may have a potential role in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the participants who made this work possible. We would also like to thank the clinicians and other hospital staff in the department of general surgery of Tangdu Hospital, for their support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, Shaanxi, China

    Ziyu Liu, Xing’an Wu, Fanglin Zhang & Zhikai Xu

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The 323rd Military Hospital of PLA, Xi’an, 710054, Shaanxi, China

    Lurong Han

  3. Department of General Surgery, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710038, Shaanxi, China

    Guoqiang Bao & Xianli He

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  1. Ziyu Liu
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  2. Xing’an Wu
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  3. Fanglin Zhang
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  4. Lurong Han
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  5. Guoqiang Bao
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  6. Xianli He
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Correspondence to Xianli He or Zhikai Xu.

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Z. Liu, X. Wu and F. Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Liu, Z., Wu, X., Zhang, F. et al. AhR expression is increased in hepatocellular carcinoma. J Mol Hist 44, 455–461 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-013-9495-6

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