ENZYME HISTOCHEMICAL PHENOTYPES IN PRIMARY HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMAS

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 41  (6) , 2092-2095
Abstract
A marked heterogeneity of enzyme histochemical phenotypes was demonstrated in 48 primary hepatocellular carcinomas induced by feeding 2-acetylaminofluorene to rats. All 8 possible combinations of 3 abnormal traits, gain of .gamma.-glutamyl transpeptidase activity, loss of ATPase activity and loss of glucose-6-phosphatase activity, were represented among the hepatocellular carcinomas. The 4 combinations in which 2 or 3 traits occurred together were seen in 85% of the carcinomas, while those categories with a normal phenotype or containing only single marker changes contained the few remaining neoplasms. The carcinomas all showed greatly increased and variable [3H]thymidine labeling indices; neither the rates of cell replication nor the degrees of differentiation of the carcinomas appeared to correlate in any meaningful way with the patterns of phenotypic diversity. The distribution of histochemical phenotypes in the carcinomas differs greatly from that reported for enzyme-altered hyperplastic islands induced by carcinogens; the significance of the difference, however, is not apparent at the present time.