Figure 3.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)in the absence of underlying cirrhosis is characterized by decreased aquaporin (AQP) 9 expression. (a) Representative immunohistochemical (IHC) images of HCC non-tumour liver (NTL) sections following IHC staining using an anti-human AQP 9 antibody. Note the continued zonal distribution (left and middle panels) in the NTL that occurred in four of seven samples analysed and the relative absence of AQP 9 staining in the tumour (left panel). (b) Representative immunofluorescent histochemical (IFHC) images of HCC and NTL sections following IFHC staining using an anti-human AQP 9 antibody and detection with a Fluro488 labelled secondary antibody (green). Sections were counterstained with DAPI (blue) for nuclear localization. The HCC/NTL margin is identified by a dashed line. (c) Cumulative scoring analysis of membrane vs. cytoplasmic staining for AQP 9 in NTL vs. HCC. Values are means ± standard error of the mean of five separate fields scored independently by two different investigators; n = 7 separate samples. *P < 0.05