Background: Morphological distinction of HCC among advanced chronic liver diseases still poses a number of problems. Definite diagnosis can't be obtained by histologic evaluation alone in some cases, especially with small sample biopsies; in these cases, immunohistochemical staining is very useful. Therefore, more support is needed in the conventional pathological differentiation of HCC from chronic liver diseases, especially advanced cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis c.
Aim of the study: to assess the expression of Arginase 1 (Arg-1) and Glutamine synthetase (GS) in chronic hepatitis c, liver Cirrhosis and HCC to evaluate their role in differentiation between them.
Methods: A retrospective immunohistochemical study was performed on 74 liver cases; 17 cases of chronic hepatitis c, 25 cases of cirrhosis, and 32 cases of HCC. In addition to 8 cases of normal liver tissues obtained from donors for liver transplantation as a control group.
Results: There was negative statistical significant relation between type of lesion (chronic hepatitis C, cirrhosis and HCC group) and Arg-1 expression (P