Background: Liver cirrhosis is an important risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Aim: To evaluate the expression of HSP70, CD34, and Ki 67 in liver cirrhosis and early HCC.
Methods: 60 liver biopsies were classified into 3 groups;Group 1(Control; 10 biopsies), Group 2 (Liver Cirrhosis; 25 cases), and Group 3 (HCC; 25 cases). All biopsies were stained by (H&E), Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP70), CD34, and Ki67.
Results: HSP70 was negative in 10 out of 10 control cases (100%), low expressed (+) in 2 out of 25 cirrhotic cases (8%), and positive in 25 out of 25 HCC cases (100%); low expressed (+) in 5 cases (5 out of 5 well-differentiated HCC) (20%);, intermediate expressed (++) in 13 cases(11 out of 11 moderately differentiated HCC and 2 out of 9 poorly differentiated HCC) (52%), and high expressed (+++) in 7 cases (7 out of 9 poorly differentiated HCC) (28%). CD34 was negative in all control cases, while in cirrhotic cases, it is minimally expressed in 5 cases (20%) and diffuse in 6 cases (24%) and positive in all cases of HCC; focal in one case (4%) and diffuse in 24 cases (96%). KI67 was negative in all control cases, isolated positively in one cirrhotic case (4%) while in HCC, it was negative in 2 cases (8%), isolated positive in 9 cases (36%), focal positive in 10 cases (40%) and diffusely positive in 4 cases (16%).
Conclusion; there is a role of HSP70, CD34, and Ki-67 in differentiation between non-neoplastic cirrhotic lesions and early HCC.