Chemokine receptor CCR7 enhances intrahepatic and lymphatic dissemination of human hepatocellular cancer.

Despite many pathophysiological analyses, the process of tumor dissemination of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains vague. In diverse tumor entities, expression of the chemokine receptor, CCR7, has been linked to tumor dissemination and poor prognosis. Therefore, we evaluated, whether CCR7 exerts similar effects in human HCC. CCR7 expression analysis was performed in vitro on human hepatoma cell lines (Huh7, Hep3B, wt HepG2, p53 dominant negative transfected HepG2). In addition, CCR7 expression was evaluated in 39 patients with hepatocellular cancer and correlated with both, tumor and patients characteristics. Human hepatocellular carcinoma samples and hepatoma cell lines displayed variable intensities of CCR7 expression. In patients, CCR7 expression was significantly associated with progressed local tumors (P = 0.02) and lymphatic metastasis (P = 0.02). Strong expression of CCR7 promotes intrahepatic and lymphatic HCC dissemination.