Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Annually, about 200,000 patients died of HCC in China. Liver transplantation (LT) holds great theoretical appeal in treating HCC. However, the high recurrence rate after transplantation is the most important limiting factor for long-term survival. Objectives: To assess the value of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) messenger RNA (mRNA), Glypican-3 (GPC3) mRNA-expressing cells in the peripheral blood (PB) for prediction of HCC recurrence following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Patients and Methods: 29 patients with HCC who underwent OLT with a minimum clinical follow-up of 12 months were included in this retrospective study. We detected AFP mRNA, GPC3 mRNA-expressing cells in the PB by TaqMan real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), pre-, intra- and post-operatively. The early recurrence of patients was evaluated. Results: 8 (28%), 15 (52%), and 9 (31%) patients had AFP mRNA detected pre-, intra-, and post-operatively, respectively. With 12 months of follow-up, HCC recurred in 7 (24%) patients. Uni­variate analysis revealed that positive pre- and post-operative AFP mRNA, TNM stage as well as vascular invasion were significant predictors for the HCC recurrence. Multivariate analysis revealed that being positive for AFP mRNA pre-operatively remained a significant risk factor for HCC recurrence after OLT. GPC3 mRNA was expressed in all PB samples. There was no significant difference in the expression levels of GPC3 mRNA between the HCC and control groups. There were no significant differences in GPC3 mRNA expression values between those patients with and without tumor recurrence. Conclusions: The pre-operative detection of circulating AFP mRNA-expressing cells could be a useful predictor for HCC recurrence following OLT. GPC3 mRNA-expressing cells in PB seem to have no diagnostic value.

Introduction: Glypican-3 is a cell surface protein, a member of glypican family and belongs to agroup of heparin sulfate proteoglycan bound to the cell membrane through a glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor. GPC3 is involved in the regulation of cell proliferationand morphogenesis. Considering the distinct clinical behavior of odontogenic lesions, the aim of the present study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expressionof GPC3 in dentigerous cyst, odontogenic keratocyst and radicular cyst. Materials& Methods: In this descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study, 60 tissue samples ofodontogenic cysts consist of 20 radicular cysts (RC), 20 odontogenic keratocysts(OKC) and 20 dentigerous cysts (DC) were reviewed by immunohistochemistrystaining for GPC3 marker. Results: In this study, both membranous and cytoplasmic expression of glypican-3 wasobserved. GPC3 expression was seen in 60% of OKCs (12/20). No GPC3immunoreactivity was seen in DCs and RCs. Conclusion: A high expression rate of GPC3 was detected in OKC, which might be related to theaggressive behavior and high recurrence rate of OKC; however, further studies arenecessary to confirm this hypothesis.

Background and Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important risk factor for the development of liver cancer. The HCV NS3 protein plays a key role in the virus life cycle and can affect normal cellular activities, such as cell proliferation, cell death, and cell signaling pathways. Moreover, it may influence malignancy development. Two cellular genes, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and Glypican3 (GPC3), that are assessed in this study, play important roles in the regulation of the cell signaling pathways, including cell proliferation. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of HCV NS3 protein on the expressions of these two genes in the Balb/C mouse model. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on three groups of male mice of Balb/C (n=8). The first group received NS3 plasmid, the second group received hepatitis B virus HBx plasmid, and the negative control group received distilled water. Two injections were administered via the tail vein, and after the last injection, RNA was extracted from the liver tissue. Next, the cDNA synthesis and real-time polymerase chain reaction for relevant genes were performed. Results: Findings revealed that the relative expression of the selected genes in the NS3 group was significant in comparison with the negative control group (P=0. 0229 for GPC3 and 0. 0020 for HSP70). However, there was no significant difference between the NS3 group and the HBx group (P=0. 4516 for GPC3 and 0. 6740 for HSP70). Conclusion: Results showed that NS3 protein may affect the increasing expression of the mentioned genes. Nevertheless, for more precise understanding, much more studies should be performed, such as evaluation of the effect of NS3 on other involved proteins in cell signaling pathways, studying other domains of NS3, performance of pathological and histological tests, usage of various experimental methods, assessment of the role of NS4A as a cofactor for NS3, and usage of vectors with more stability.