Abstract:

Objective To explore the stem cell-like properties of primary cultures of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） cells and portal vein tumor thrombus（PVTT） cells. Methods Fresh hepatocellular carcinoma（HCC） with portal vein tumor thrombosisand（PVTT）or not were used for short-term primary culture and stability batches by utilizing enzymatic digestion. We would be classify the stability of the cultured cells as HCC without PVTT, the T-primary tumor of HCC with PVTT and PVTT,called section of HCC-PVTT（-）,HCC-PVTT（+）and PVTT. Flow cytometry detect the content of CD90+ and the expressions of relative gene and protein from HCC with PVTT or not，which were tested by qRT-PCR and Western blot methods. Testing the cells of invasion by Transwell chamber. Results We successfully cultured primary HCC cells and PVTT cells. Flow cytometry revealed the presence of a CD90+ subpopulation in both types of cultures. The different cultures varied in invasiveness as follows：PVTT cells>HCC-PVTT（+） cells>HCC-PVTT（+） cells>HCC-PVTT（-）cells（P<0.05）. Conclusions Stem cell-like populations exist in HCC and PVTT tissue，and their stem cell characteristics correlate positively with tumor invasion and metastasis.

Key words: Liver neoplasm, Cancer stem cells, Portal vein tumor thrombus cells, CD90, SALL4, CK19