Expression of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 in human hepatocellular carcinoma and its role in portal vein tumor thrombus

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to investigate the expression of CXCR4 in portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) tissue and its possible role in the invasiveness of tumor thrombus cells. METHODS: We detected differential expression of CXCR4 between PVTT and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by an immunohistochemical assay. Lentivirus-mediated RNA interference and a migration assay were performed on human primary cells derived from PVTT to study the impact of CXCR4 on the invasiveness of HCC. RESULTS: The expression of CXCR4 in tumor thrombus tissue was higher than that in HCC tissue. The invasion ratio of PVTT cells was significantly decreased (P < 0.05) after being infected with a CXCR4-targeting siRNA lentivirus, indicating that downregulation of CXCR4 by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference significantly impaired the invasive potential of PVTT. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that CXCR4 is an effective curative target for hepatocellular carcinomas with PVTT.