Extracellular matrix in hepatoblastoma: an immunohistochemical investigation

Eleven hepatoblastomas of various subtypes and normal liver tissue were investigated with antibodies against collagen types I-VI, laminin, fibronectin and endothelial and macrophage-associated antigens. Epithelial hepatoblastoma cells, unlike non-neoplastic hepatocytes, exhibited intracellular immunoreactivity for various extracellular matrix proteins (depending on the subtype: laminin, fibronectin and collagen types III, IV and V). The intracellular expression of extracellular matrix proteins by the tumour cells increased from the fetal subtype, through the embryonal subtype, to the small cell subtype. The epithelial tumours exhibited sinusoid-like blood vessels in numbers that varied according to the subtype. These contained Kupffer cells and exhibited greater amounts of the basement membrane components collagen type IV and laminin in the perisinusoidal space than those in the normal liver. The small cell hepatoblastoma exhibited smaller numbers of sinusoids, pronounced intracellular expression of extracellular matrix proteins and large numbers of fibres immunoreactive for collagen type III. In the mixed hepatoblastomas, the extracellular matrix of the osteoid was most strongly immunoreactive for collagen type I and that of the spindle cell areas for collagen type III.