To study the relationship between nitric oxide (NO) ?inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) , Plsama NO 2 -/NO 3 - was measured by Griess reaction in 162 patients with chronic hepatitis (CH) and compensated liver cirrhosis (LC) , among which 82 patients were attacked by HCC and 80 patients were not.36 healthy persons served as normal controls (NC) .The expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in HCC (n=40) , CH (n=30) and LC (n=30) samples obtained from liver biopsy or operation was compared with that in normal liver tissues by using immunohistochemistry.20 normal liver tissue samples obtained from liver operation served as normal controls.Plasma NO 2 -/NO 3 - level in normal was 16.8±4.9μmol/L.The plasma level of NO 2 -/NO 3 - in CH (63.4±18.2μmol/L) and LC (42.2±11.5μmol/L) accompanied with HCC was notably higher than in patients without HCC (CH:28.5±8.7μmol/L;LC:24.7±6.2μmol/L. P <0.01) .Plasma NO 2 -/NO 3 - level in HCC accompanied with CH was significantly higher than in HCC accompanied with LC ( P <0.05) .iNOS was not expressed in normal liver tissues.Positive rate of iNOS in HCC, CH and LC was 95% (46/48) , 90% (36/40) and 62.5% (25/40) respectively.The expression level of iNOS in HCC and CH was much higher than in LC.Plasma level of NO 2 -/NO 3 - was significantly increased in patients with HCC.This suggested that NO may participate in the carcinogenesis and progression of HCC.
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