Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc
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Heterogeneous biological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma may be attributed to the cellular origin of the tumor. Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma probably derived from hepatic progenitor cells had early tumor recurrence after surgical resection or liver transplantation, suggesting that these tumors have aggressive characteristics. Ezrin, a member of the ERM (ezrin-radixin-moesin) cytoskeleton-associated protein family, is highly expressed in several types of human cancers and correlations between its immunoreactivity and patient outcome have been shown. ⋯ Multivariate analysis revealed positive ezrin expression and multiple tumors to be independently associated with early recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after curative surgical resection. These results suggested that hepatocellular carcinoma with ezrin expression might be at least partly derived from hepatic progenitor cells. Measurement of ezrin expression might be used to identify patients with an increased risk of early recurrence.