Individual and joint influence of cytokeratin 19 and microvascular invasion on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy

Abstract Background and objectives To evaluate the individual and combined associations of cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and microvascular invasion (MVI) with prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Clinicopathological data on 352 patients with HCC who underwent radical resection at our hospital between January 2013 and December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into four groups: CK19(−)/MVI(−), CK19(−)/MVI(+), CK19(+)/MVI(−), and CK19(+)/MVI(+). Results Of the 352 HCC patients, 154 (43.8%) were CK19(−)/MVI(−); 116 (33.0%), CK19(−)/MVI(+); 31 (8.8%), CK19(+)/MVI(−); and 51 (14.5%), CK19(+)/MVI(+). The disease-free survival of CK19(−)/MVI(−) patients was significantly higher than that of CK19(−)/MVI(+) patients and CK19(+)/MVI(+) patients. Similar results were observed for overall survival. CK19(+)/MVI(+) patients showed significantly lower overall survival than the other three groups. Conclusions CK19 expression and MVI predict poor prognosis after radical resection of HCC, and the two markers jointly contribute to poor OS. Combining CK19 and MVI may predict post-resection prognosis better than using either factor on its own.