Expression of P-glycoprotein and its relationship with P53 in primary hepatocellular carcinoma

OBJECTIVE To explore the expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC), and analyze its relationship with P53. METHODS The expressions of P-gp and P53 were detected by S-P immunohistochemical technique in 125 cases with PHC. RESULTS The expression positive rates of P-gp and P53 were 81.60% (102/125) and 32.80% (41/125) respectively in PHC. The positive rate of P-gp was higher than that of P53 (P = 0.001). The expression of P-gp was related to age and tumor size (P﹤0.05). The positive rate of P-gp in poorly-differentiated PHC was higher than that in middle-differentiated or well-differentiated PHC (P ﹤ 0.05). Spearman rank correlation test showed correlation between the positive rate of P-gp and tumor differentiation (P = 0.013). The expression of P -gp was higher in cases with AFP-elevated than that of AFP-normal (P = 0.001). The expression of P-gp was higher in cases with AST-elevated than that of AST-normal (P = 0.006). The expression of P-gp was higher in cases with positive P53 than that of negative P53 (χ2 = 10.352, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION The expression of P-gp was related to age, tumor size, tumor differentiation, AFP, AST and P53.