Figure 4.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)in the presence 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 formation of hepatocyte-containing nodules bordered by fibrous septae in the NTL and lack of zonal distribution of AQP 9 (left and middle panels) in the NTL that occurred in all eight of the samples analysed coupled with 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. (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 = 8 separate samples. *P < 0.05