Expression of class I MHC molecule, HSP70 and TAP in human hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To demonstrate whether class I MHC molecule, transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP), and heat-shock proteion70 (HSP70) expressed in liver cancer cells before the design and construction of CTL vaccine against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: We studied 30 HCC specimens by labeled streptavidin biotin (LSAB) method of immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The results showed that the majority of HCC cells investigated naturally expressed class I MHC and TAP, which were different from other tumor cells. Furthermore, we found that HSP70 expressed not only in cellular cytoplasm, but also on the cell surface in HCC. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that our understanding about immune escape mechanisms employed by HCC cells may be further improved. It is important to design and construct CTL vaccine against HCC.