ArticleOncology letters2020
High expression of endothelial progenitor cell-induced angiogenic markers is associated with bile acid levels in HCC.
Article in Oncology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integrative Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals MAIT Cell Dysfunction in Relapsed HCC.Journal of hepatocellular carcinoma · 2026Article
- Gut Microbiota-Tumor Microenvironment Interactions: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Efficacy in Cancer.Cancer management and research · 2025Review
- Bile Acids and Liver Cancer: Molecular Mechanism and Therapeutic Prospects.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Bile Acids: Physiological Activity and Perspectives of Using in Clinical and Laboratory Diagnostics.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Deregulated bile acids may drive hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis by inducing an immunosuppressive microenvironment.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Article
- Research Progress of Bile Acids in Cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Endothelial progenitor cell (EPC)-induced angiogenesis activity is enhanced in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the contributing factors remain unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the factors influencing the number of EPCs and circulating progenitor cells (CPCs), as well as the expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) and CD34, in patients with HCC. The expression levels of VEGFR-2 and CD34 were assessed in 72 HCC tumor and matched adjacent tissue microarrays by immunohistochemistry. The associations between VEGFR-2 or CD34 expression in tumors, clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival rates were analyzed. The number of EPCs and CPCs were analyzed in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC. In this study, high expression levels of VEGFR-2 and CD34 were detected in the tumor tissues of 41 (56.9%) and 44 (61.1%) patients, respectively. VEGFR-2 expression was significantly associated with tumor size (P<0.001), bile acid level (P=0.014) and α-fetoprotein level (P=0.011). However, CD34 expression was associated with tumor size (P=0.009), recrudescence (P<0.001) and bile acid (P=0.009). Next, the expression levels of VEGFR-2 and CD34 in tumor and adjacent tissues were compared according to the bile acid level. VEGFR-2 and CD34 expression levels were both higher in the high bile acid group, whereas expression levels of the markers were higher in adjacent tissues compared with tumor tissues. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis identified that patients with low CD34 expression had a longer overall survival compared with patients with high CD34 expression (P=0.029). Multivariate analysis also indicated that both VEGFR-2 (P=0.020) and CD34 (P=0.035) were independent prognostic risk factors. Moreover, flow cytometry demonstrated that the number of EPCs and CPCs was negatively related with the bile acid levels in patients with HCC. In conclusion, in patients with HCC, bile acid promotes EPC-induced angiogenesis. Furthermore, EPCs and CPCs may be activated by bile acid in tumors but are more so in adjacent tissues.
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