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Background: Tie2-expressing monocytes (TEMs) are found in various tumors, involved in forming tumor blood vessels and expressing several important proangiogenic factors. The goals of this study were to evaluate the value of TEMs in diagnosing and predicting the prognosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Flow cytometry was performed to identify and count TEMs in peripheral blood monocytes from HCC patients (n = 84) receiving hepatectomy, HBV cirrhotic patients (n = 21), benign tumors patients (n = 15) and healthy volunteers (n = 23). Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) levels in the plasma were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The distribution of TEMs in tumor tissue was observed by immunofluorescence staining. Then we determined the vascular area as a percentage of tumor area (vascular area/tumor area) by immunohistochemical staining. Finally the prognostic significance of TEMs and other clinicopathologic factors was evaluated. Results: Percentage of TEMs in peripheral blood monocytes significantly increased in HCC patients compared with HBV cirrhotic patients and healthy donors (both P< 0.001). However there was no significance in benign liver tumor (P = 0.482). In addition, the percentage of circulating TEMs was positively correlated with plasma Ang-2 concentration (P<0.001, r2 = 0.294) and vascular area/tumor area (P<0.001, r2 = 0.126). Furthermore the percentage of intratumoral TEMs was significantly higher than that of paratumoral TEMs (P<0.001). Increased circulating TEMs was associated with poor overall survival (P = 0.043) and a shorter time to recurrence (P = 0.041). Multivariate Cox analysis also revealed that the percentage of TEMs in peripheral blood was an independent factor for HCC patients’ prognosis. Conclusions: TEMs may promote angiogenesis in HCC regarding the angiopoietin/Tie2 signal pathway. Percentage of TEMs in peripheral blood monocytes may be applied as a biomarker for identifying HBV-related HCC and predicting the prognosis of these patients after resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recurrence prediction of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) present a great challenge because of a lack of biomarkers. Genetic variations play an important role in tumor development and metastasis., Methods: Oligonucleotide microarrays were used to evaluate the genetic characteristics of tumor DNA in 30 HBV-related HCC patients who were underwent LT. Recurrence-related single-nucleotide polymorphism were selected, and their prognostic value was assessed and validated in two independent cohorts of HCC patients (N = 102 and N = 77), using pretransplant plasma circulating DNA. Prognostic significance was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and log-rank tests. Multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate prognosis-related factors., Results: rs894151 and rs12438080 were significantly associated with recurrence (P = .003 and P = .004, respectively). Multivariate analyses demonstrated that the co-index of the 2 SNPs was an independent prognostic factor for recurrence (P = .040). Similar results were obtained in the third cohort (N = 77). Furthermore, for HCC patients (all the 3 cohorts) exceeding Milan criteria, the co-index was a prognostic factor for recurrence and survival (P<.001 and P = .002, respectively)., Conclusions: Our study demonstrated first that genetic variations of rs894151 and rs12438080 in pretransplant plasma circulating DNA are promising prognostic markers for tumor recurrence in HCC patients undergoing LT and identify a subgroup of patients who, despite having HCC exceeding Milan criteria, have a low risk of post-transplant recurrence.