Effect of phosphorylation of MAPK and Stat3 and expression of c-fos and c-jun proteins on hepatocarcinogenesis and their clinical significance

AIM To study the effect of phosphorylation of MAPK and Stat3 and the expression of c-fos and c-jun proteins on hepatocellular carcinogenesis and their clinical significance. METHODS SP immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of p42/44~(MAPK), p-Stat3, c-fos and c-jun proteins in 55 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and their surrounding liver tissues. RESULTS The positive rates and expression levels of p42/44~(MAPK), p-Stat3, c-fos and c-jun proteins in HCCs were significantly higher than those in pericarcinomatous liver tissues (PCLT). A positive correlation was observed between the expression of p42/44~(MAPK) and c-fos proteins, and between p-Stat3 and c-jun, but there was no significant correlation between P42/44~(MAPK) and p- Stat3 in HCCs and their surrounding liver tissues. CONCLUSION The abnormalities of Ras/Raf/ MAPK and JAKs/ Stat3 cascade reaction may contribute to malignant transformation of hepatocytes. Hepatocytes which are positive for p42/ 44~(MAPK), c-fos or c-jun proteins may be potential malignant pre-cancerous cells. Activation of MAPK and Stat3 proteins may be an early event in hepatocellular carcinogenesis.