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Review
. 2014 Jun;59(6):2397-402.
doi: 10.1002/hep.26762. Epub 2014 Apr 9.

Desmoplastic stroma and cholangiocarcinoma: clinical implications and therapeutic targeting

Alphonse E Sirica  1 , Gregory J Gores
Affiliations
Review

Desmoplastic stroma and cholangiocarcinoma: clinical implications and therapeutic targeting

Alphonse E Sirica et al. Hepatology. 2014 Jun.
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photomicrographs of representative chronic fibrosing diseases of human liver and classical intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) demonstrating a positive correlation between levels of immunoreactivity for α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), reflective of numbers of stromal myofibroblastic cells, and degrees of hepatic fibrosis or tumor desmoplasia. Note that the uniformly strong staining reaction for α-SMA-positive stromal cells and corresponding dense diffuse histochemical staining for fibrous type I collagen (orange staining) is most intense in the desmoplastic ICC stroma, followed by that of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a high risk condition for ICC with marked periductular fibrosis. Note, however, that the degree of α-SMA-positive cells and corresponding degree of collagen type 1 staining are less prominently expressed in the histological specimen of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), a lower risk condition for ICC with less developed fibrosis, and not expressed in normal adult (donor transplant) liver (NL) without fibrosis. A–D, immunohistochemically stained for α-SMA. E–H, histochemically stained for type I collagen using the picrosirius red staining method. BD = intrahepatic bile ducts, PA = portal area. α-SMA immunostaining in PA of NL is confined to vascular walls. Arrow points to normal interlobular bile duct.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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