Figure 1

Representative microphotographs of immunohistochemical analysis of ATX antigen expression in human normal liver and HCC tissue. A, B, normal control liver (NL). C, D, HCCs developed from normal liver background with neither inflammatory lesion nor well-established risk factors, and were classified as normal-HCC (N-HCC). E, F, Hepatitis B-related HCC (HBV-HCC). G, H, hepatitis C-related HCC (HCV-HCC). I, J, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) related-HCC (NASH-HCC). No detectable ATX antigen expression was observed in hepatocytes of normal liver although a small portion of stromal cells showed weak ATX immunoreactivity (A and B, blue arrow). Intense and widespread ATX immunoreactivity was observed in the cytoplasm of tumor cells in HBV-, HCV- or NASH-associated HCC (E-J, red arrow). Weak ATX immunoreactivity was observed in the tumor cells of N-HCC (C and D, blue arrow). A, C, E, G, and I, original magnification, × 200; B, D, F, H and J, original magnification, × 400. Images were captured with a Leica DM5000 B system (Leica Microsystems).