Difference in the in vitro uptake of bromodeoxyuridine between liver cirrhosis with and without hepatocellular carcinoma

With the aim of examining increasing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis of liver cirrhotic tissue when hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is developing, bromodeoxyuridine labeling indices (BrdU LI) of liver biopsy specimens from 19 control cirrhotic (control LC) patients without HCC, 19 cirrhotic patients with HCC, and from six control subjects were examined using an in vitro labeling technique. The mean BrdU LI ± SD of HCC cancerous portion, HCC non‐cancerous cirrhotic portion, control LC, and of control subjects were 7.2 ± 2.9%, 3.3 ± 1.5%, 2.1 ± 1.7%, and 0.25 ± 0.09%, respectively. Interesting enough, there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between the non‐cancerous cirrhotic portion and control LC. Although all 17 non‐cancerous cirrhotic portion belonged to the high LI group (> 1.5%), 10 of 19 in the control LC belonged to the low LI group (>1.5%) (P > 0.001). The authors conclude that HCC would develop in the cirrhotics with high DNA synthetic potency.