Abstract: Objective To explore the expression and the clinicopathological implications of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) tissues and cirrhotic tissues.Methods PARP expression in the tissues of HCC(n = 99),cirrhosis(n = 51) and normal control(n =41) were detected by immunohistochemical EnVision method.Results There were three types of PARP positive staining in HCC tissues:nuclear,cytoplasmic and mixed.The PARP expression level of nuclear type was significantly lower in HCC tissues than those in cirrhosis and normal control,and was significantly lower in cirrhosis than that in normal control(P<0.01).The expression of PARP was not associated with the clinicopathological factors in HCC cases(P>0.05).Multiplicity analysis indicated that PARP expression in cytoplasm was related to the number of peripheral blood leucocytes(OR = 0.757,P = 0.037 ).Conclusions PARP expression in liver cell nucleus might reflect the status of oxidative stress in each stage during hepatocarcinogenesis,which might implicate the etiology of HCC.

Key words: Poly ADP-ribose polymerase(PARP), Hepatocellular carcinoma, Immunohistochemistry