Integrated Molecular and Histopathological Evaluation of Survivin and VEGF in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Integrated Molecular and Histopathological Evaluation of Survivin and VEGF in Hepatocellular Carcinoma | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Integrated Molecular and Histopathological Evaluation of Survivin and VEGF in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Ahmed E Fazary, Doaa A Badr This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9131394/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Survivin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are key regulators of apoptosis inhibition and tumor angiogenesis, respectively, and play critical roles in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to evaluate the expression of survivin and VEGF in HCC tissues and to investigate their association with clinicopathological features. Methods: A total of 30 patients with HCC were included. Tumor and adjacent non-neoplastic liver tissues were collected during surgical resection. Survivin and VEGF mRNA expression levels were analyzed using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Serum samples were assessed for hepatitis B and C virus infection using ELISA and PCR. Histopathological and histochemical examinations were performed to evaluate structural changes across tumor grades. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess associations between molecular markers and clinical parameters. Results: Survivin expression was detected in 73.3% of HCC tissues compared with 36.7% of adjacent tissues, while VEGF expression was observed in 43.3% and 40.0%, respectively. Among survivin-positive tumor samples, 59% co-expressed VEGF, demonstrating a significant association (p < 0.05). No significant correlations were found between survivin or VEGF expression and patient age, sex, or hepatitis B/C infection status. Histopathological analysis revealed progressive morphological alterations with increasing tumor grade, including cellular pleomorphism, increased mitotic activity, fibrosis, and nodular tumor formation. Conclusions: The findings indicate that survivin overexpression contributes to impaired apoptosis regulation, while VEGF promotes angiogenesis in HCC. Their co-expression suggests a functional interplay that may enhance tumor progression. Survivin, particularly in combination with VEGF, may serve as a valuable diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and represents a potential therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Survivin Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) Apoptosis inhibition Tumor angiogenesis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Ethics Approval Statement: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of the (National Cancer Institute, Cairo University), and VACSERA (20080722) .Also, The authors declare that they take in their considerations all ethical requirements in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Council, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), Cairo, Egypt, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Participant Consent Statement: It is a retrospective study with no intervention needed, no special informed consent but the study approval consent was taken by NRC, Cairo University and need for individual consent was waived. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9131394","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":610746409,"identity":"5e17a047-326e-47d8-9942-e1220d82746a","order_by":0,"name":"Ahmed E Fazary","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgdgih9EJBQQpYXZAExJNoC0GJCixeAAmCRCA397M+PHHzX3EjefX5344YEBgzy/2AH8WiTOHGaWkDhWnLjtxtvNEkCHGc6cnUDAmhv5ByQM2BKAWs5uAGlJMLhNQIv8/cfMPxL+JSRunnF28w+itBjcYGaTONiWkLiBv3cbcbYYnklms2zsSzCecYN3m0WCgQRhv8gdP8x888e3BNn+/rObb/6osJHnlyagBQYcGyTAKiWIUw4C9gz8B4hXPQpGwSgYBSMLAABDXEhVXmUUaAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Vacsera (Egypt)","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ahmed","middleName":"E","lastName":"Fazary","suffix":""},{"id":610746410,"identity":"854d7587-7011-4f94-b0b1-430195a7f989","order_by":1,"name":"Doaa A Badr","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Vacsera (Egypt)","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Doaa","middleName":"A","lastName":"Badr","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-15 22:53:36","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9131394/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9131394/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105572491,"identity":"6cbc543f-d5eb-44fa-b965-a72beb872e2b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 13:27:08","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1021585,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"BSUJASManuscript2026.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9131394/v1_covered_ea4effa4-0db9-4644-bff6-e921823b5f29.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eNo competing interests reported.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEthics Approval Statement: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of the (National Cancer Institute, Cairo University), and VACSERA (20080722) .Also, The authors declare that they take in their considerations all ethical requirements in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Council, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT), Cairo, Egypt, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Participant Consent Statement: It is a retrospective study with no intervention needed, no special informed consent but the study approval consent was taken by NRC, Cairo University and need for individual consent was waived.\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"Integrated Molecular and Histopathological Evaluation of Survivin and VEGF in Hepatocellular Carcinoma","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), Survivin, Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Apoptosis inhibition, Tumor angiogenesis","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9131394/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9131394/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground: \u003c/strong\u003eSurvivin and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are key regulators of apoptosis inhibition and tumor angiogenesis, respectively, and play critical roles in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to evaluate the expression of survivin and VEGF in HCC tissues and to investigate their association with clinicopathological features.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods: \u003c/strong\u003eA total of 30 patients with HCC were included. Tumor and adjacent non-neoplastic liver tissues were collected during surgical resection. Survivin and VEGF mRNA expression levels were analyzed using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Serum samples were assessed for hepatitis B and C virus infection using ELISA and PCR. Histopathological and histochemical examinations were performed to evaluate structural changes across tumor grades. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess associations between molecular markers and clinical parameters.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults:\u003c/strong\u003eSurvivin expression was detected in 73.3% of HCC tissues compared with 36.7% of adjacent tissues, while VEGF expression was observed in 43.3% and 40.0%, respectively. Among survivin-positive tumor samples, 59% co-expressed VEGF, demonstrating a significant association (p \u0026lt; 0.05). No significant correlations were found between survivin or VEGF expression and patient age, sex, or hepatitis B/C infection status. Histopathological analysis revealed progressive morphological alterations with increasing tumor grade, including cellular pleomorphism, increased mitotic activity, fibrosis, and nodular tumor formation.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions: \u003c/strong\u003eThe findings indicate that survivin overexpression contributes to impaired apoptosis regulation, while VEGF promotes angiogenesis in HCC. Their co-expression suggests a functional interplay that may enhance tumor progression. Survivin, particularly in combination with VEGF, may serve as a valuable diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and represents a potential therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Integrated Molecular and Histopathological Evaluation of Survivin and VEGF in Hepatocellular Carcinoma","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-24 14:21:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9131394/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"aac4bc8b-15ed-428c-93ad-1af8dd2f96d2","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 24th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-26T09:38:15+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-24 14:21:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9131394","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9131394","identity":"rs-9131394","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}