Yap Expression Is Closely Related to Tumor Angiogenesis and Poor Prognosis in Hepatoblastoma

Figures & data

Figure 1. YAP immunohistochemistry in hepatoblastoma tissues and paraneoplastic tissues. YAP expression was primarily localized in the nucleus. A, B and C are hematoxylin and eosin stained, (D) Adjacent tissues (x100). (E) Negative stain in HB (x100). (F) Positive stain in HB (x100).

Figure 2. Microvessel density (MVD) in hepatoblastoma tissues. (A) Immunohistochemistry for CD34 in hepatoblastoma tissues; (a) Higher MVD expression (x100). (b) Lower MVD expression (x100). (B) Kaplan–Meier analysis of overall survival in patients with hepatoblastoma based on MVD (P = 0.009).

Figure 3. MVD and VEGF expression in hepatoblastoma. (A) Immunohistochemistry for VEGF in hepatoblastoma tissues (x100 and x200). (B) YAP high expression cases exhibited higher MVD (60.72 ± 28.22) than YAP low expression cases (37.71 ± 18.54) (P = 0.001).

Table 1. Correlations between YAP, MVD and VEGF expression in HBs.

Characteristics		YAP		χ2	P value
	Cases	Lower, n	Higher, n
VEGF				6.01	0.014*
Negative	29	18	11
Positive	35	11	24
MVD				10.65	0.002*
Low	32	21	11
High	32	8	24

Table 2. Relationship between YAP expression and clinicopathological features of HBs.

Characteristics		YAP		χ^2	P value
	Cases	Lower, n	Higher, n
Sex				0.001	0.98
Male	33	15	18
Female	31	14	17
Age (years)				0.74	0.39
≤3	39	16	23
>3	25	13	12
Lymph node metastasis				4.43	0.035*
Negative	47	25	22
Positive	17	4	13
Vascular invasion				5.90	0.015*
Negative	51	27	24
Positive	13	2	11
Histological type				4.635	0.031*
ET	37	21	16
MT	27	8	19
PRETEXT stage				4.040	0.044*
I/II	40	22	18
III/IV	24	7	17

ET: epithelial type; MT: mixed type.

Figure 4. Kaplan–Meier analysis of the overall survival of patients with hepatoblastoma based on YAP expression (P = 0.007).

Table 3. Multivariate Cox regression analysis for overall survival in HBs.

Characteristics	B	SE	Wald	P value	Hazard Rate (95% CI)
Lymph node metastasis	1.662	0.597	7.755	0.005*	1.636–16.973
PRETEXT stage	3.265	1.067	9.374	0.002*	3.238–211.83
YAP	1.498	0.670	4.994	0.025*	1.202–16.643