Abstract: Expression of CCL15 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Its Clinical SignificanceYueguo LI1, Ning ZHANG2Correspondence to: Ning ZHANG, E-mail: kesaqi@163.com1Department of Laboratory, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China2Central Laboratory, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, ChinaAbstract Objective: To study the expression of CCL15 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinicopathologic signifi-cance, and to study the relationship between expression levels of CCL15 and malignant behaviors of HCC. Methods: Immunohisto-chemistry (SP method) was used to detect expression of CCL15 in paraffin-embedded sections from 80 cases of HCC, 80 samples of ad-jacent tissue and 50 samples of normal liver tissue. Results: The positive rates of CCL15 were significantly higher in HCC than in adja-cent tissue specimens and normal liver tissue ( P < 0.05 ). No significant difference was found between adjacent tissue specimens andnormal liver tissue ( P < 0.05). The expression of CCL15 was significantly correlated with tumor size and tumor thrombi in the portalvein ( P < 0.05 ), but not with sex, age, liver cirrhosis or the level of AFP ( P > 0.05 ). Conclusion: The expression of CCL15 was signif-icantly correlated with malignant behaviors of HCC, thus CCL15 might be an important biological marker in the oncogenesis, progres-sion, biological behavior and prognosis of HCC.Keywords Hepatocellular neoplasm; CCL15; Immunohistochemistry