Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 9:13:1169-1177.
doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S292197. eCollection 2021.

OATP1B3 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Correlates with Intralesional Gd-EOB-DTPA Uptake and Signal Intensity on Gd-EOB-DTPA-Enhanced MRI

Xiaojiao Zhou  1 , Liling Long  1 , Zhiqing Mo  1 , Yajuan Li  1
Affiliations

OATP1B3 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Correlates with Intralesional Gd-EOB-DTPA Uptake and Signal Intensity on Gd-EOB-DTPA-Enhanced MRI

Xiaojiao Zhou et al. Cancer Manag Res. .

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the predictive value of the OATP1B3 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for the gadolinium ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) uptake and the signal intensity (SI) in the hepatobiliary (HB) phase.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed 69 liver nodules of 64 patients who underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before operation. Based on the SI in the HB phase, the patients were categorized into the hypointense HCC and iso- or hyperintense HCC groups. The OATP1B3 expression was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry. The differences between the expression of OATP1B3 and Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced magnetic resonance imaging between the two groups of hepatocellular carcinoma were compared. The relationship between the OATP1B3 expression and the SI and relative enhancement (RE) was analyzed.

Results: The examined HCC nodules were 59 hypointense HCC and 10 iso- or hyperintense. The relative expressions of OATP1B3, HB-phase signal, and the RE of the HB phase in iso- or hyperintense were significantly higher than those of the hypointense HCC, while the RE of the HB phase increased with an increase in the OATP1B3 expression (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The OATP1B3 expression in HCC can predict the uptake of Gd-EOB-DTPA and the SI of the HB phase. We believe that the evaluation of OATP1B3 expression will facilitate the comprehension of imaging performance of HCC in Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI.

Keywords: OATP1B3; carcinoma; gadolinium ethoxybenzyl DTPA; hepatocellular; magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A and B) show images from the pre-enhancement and the HB phases (20 min after injection of the contrast agent) for a 56-year-old male patient. The HB phase is hypointense. (C and D) The images of a 40-year-old male patient at the pre-enhancement and HB stages. The HB stage showing iso- or hyperintense images.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) WD HCC, (B) MD HCC, and (C) PD HCC.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Graph showing tumor differentiation. The hypointense HCCs (hypo) consisted of well- differentiated (n = 6), moderately differentiated (n = 46), and poorly differentiated HCCs (n = 7), while 80% (n = 8) of hyperintense HCCs (iso/hyper) were moderately differentiated.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The expression of OATP1B3 at different signal intensities of the 2 groups. The expression in the iso- or hyperintense groups is significantly higher than that in the hypointense group (*P < 0.05).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The relationship between the expression of transporter OATP1B3 and the enhancement rate (RE) in the HB phase. We found that the OATP1B3 expression was proportional to the RE in the HB phase. As the OATP1B3 expression increased, the enhancement rate in the RE phase also increased (R = 0.747, P < 0.01).
Figure 6
Figure 6
A bar graph showing the results of semiquantitative analysis of the immunohistochemistry of OATP1B3 (*P < 0.05).
Figure 7
Figure 7
(A and B) An HCC patient with iso- or hyperintense images at the HB stage. The expression of OATP1B3 is significantly higher than that of the background liver. (C and D) An HCC patient with hypointense images at the HB stage. The expression of OATP1B3 in HCC is basically not expressed and is significantly lower than that of the background liver.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The relationship between the expression of transporter OATP1B3 and the RE of the HB phase. The expression of OATP1B3 relative to that in background liver was significantly related to the SI of the HB phase. As the expression of OATP1B3 increased, the RE of the HB phase also increased (P < 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tang A, Hallouch O, Chernyak V, Kamaya A, Sirlin CB. Epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma: target population for surveillance and diagnosis. Abdom Radiol. 2018;43(1):13–25. doi:10.1007/s00261-017-1209-1 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Petruzziello A. Epidemiology of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) related hepatocellular carcinoma. Open Virol J. 2018;12(Suppl–1, M3):26–32. doi:10.2174/1874357901812010026 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johnson PJ. How do mechanisms of hepatocarcinogenesis (HBV, HCV, and NASH) affect our understanding and approach to HCC?. Am Society Clin Oncol Educational Book. 2013;2013:132–136. doi:10.14694/EdBook_AM.2013.33.e132 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Narsinh KH, Cui J, Papadatos D, et al. Hepatocarcinogenesis and LI-RADS. Abdominal Radiol. 2018;43:1–11. doi:10.1007/s00261-017-1386-y - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wei WU, Min-Hua C, Maryellen S, et al. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of hepatocarcinogenesis in liver cirrhosis. Chinese Medical Journal (English version) 2012;125(017):3104–3109. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources