Background/aims: Malignant cells require high energy via glycolytic generation of ATP for cell proliferation and survival. This process is thought to be mediated by glucose transporters (GLUTs). GLUT1 appears to be expressed aberrantly in many cancers. The liver is the main organ closely related to glycogen metabolism and it is thought that GLUT expression might be altered in the tumors arising in the liver.
Methodology: We studied GLUT1 expression in 22 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and 16 cholangiocarcinomas (CC) and compared it to the expression of hepatocyte specific antigen (HSA) and cytokeratin 19 (CK19) by immunohistochemical studies.
Results: In HCC, GLUT1 was expressed in 4.5% (1/22), HSA in 77.3% (17/22) and CK19 in none (0/22). In CC, GLUT1 was expressed in 81.3% (13/16), HSA in none (0/16) and CK19 in 100% (16/16). Interestingly, GLUT1 was not expressed in normal hepatocytes and bile duct epithelium around the tumor, whereas CK19 was expressed in normal bile ducts and tumor cells.
Conclusions: These results indicate that GLUT1 might be related to development of bile duct carcinoma and its expression was a more reliable marker for detection of bile duct carcinoma than CK19. Additionally, GLUT1 might potentially be useful as a means of distinguishing CC from HCC.