Background/aims: Ornithine decarboxylase activity, a rate-limiting enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, is correlated with the degree of malignancy of hepatocellular carcinoma. We investigated the relationship between polyamine metabolism in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and the recurrence after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Methodology: The subjects were 49 patients who underwent liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma. The relationship between ornithine decarboxylase activity and polyamine concentration in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and the pathologic findings or recurrence after the operation was studied.
Results: The prevalences of moderately or poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma, portal invasion, and intrahepatic metastasis were higher in patients with a high ornithine decarboxylase activity (> or = 100 pmol putrescine/h/mg protein) than in patients with a low ornithine decarboxylase activity (< 100 pmol putrescine/h/mg protein). The tumor-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with a high ornithine decarboxylase activity than in patients with a low ornithine decarboxylase activity (p=0.0394). The tumor-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with a high spermidine concentration (> or = 80 nmol/mg protein) than in patients with a low spermidine concentration (< 80 nmol/mg protein, p = 0.0454).
Conclusions: A high ornithine decarboxylase activity and a high spermidine concentration of hepatocellular carcinoma were risk factors for recurrence after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma.