To investigate the effect of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) associated fibroblasts (hCAF) to the metastasis of HCC.

The hCAF and normal fibroblasts (NF) cells were cultured for 2 to 3 days and then stained by immunofluorescence. The expression of α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA), fibroblast surface protein (FSP), fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and vimentin of hCAF and NF cells were observed. The effect of hCAF to cell morphology change and invasion and metastasis of HCC were observed through co-culture and scratch test of hCAF and MHCC97L-green fluorescent protein(GFP), HepG2-GFP HCC cells.

The expression of α-SMA, FSP, FAP and vimentin were all observed in the hCAF and NF cells. The expression level of α-SMA and FAP in hCAF cells were obviously higher compared with the NF. The hCAF and HCC cells were co-cultured for 96 hours. The typical clustering growth of MHCC97L-GFP cells changed to disseminated growth. The polygon shape of epithelial cell of HepG2-GFP cell changed to spindle shape of interstitial cell. The scratch of MHCC97L-GFP, HepG2-GFP cells and hCAF cells after 5 days co-culture lessened obviously, compared with NF cells.

The hCAF cells can promote the transformation of epithelial cells into interstitial cells and enhance the invasion and metastasis of HCC cells.

Fibroblasts; Carcinoma, hepatocellular; Neoplasm metastasis; Smooth muscle myosins; Membrane proteins