Expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was investigated in frozen sections obtained from 40 resected liver specimens of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma using immunoperoxidase techniques and immunoelectron microscopy. ICAM-1 was expressed in 80% of the HCC specimens on the membrane of cancer cells. In noncancerous regions characterized by cirrhosis in 28 cases and chronic hepatitis in 12 cases, ICAM-1 was rarely expressed on hepatocytes but was expressed mainly on the endothelium of portal vessels and sinusoidal lining cells. These results suggest that expression of ICAM-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma may be induced by malignant transformation of hepatocytes.