Introduction: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling plays an important role in various cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to evaluate immunoexpression of EGFR in HCC and surrounding non-tumor liver tissue and to correlate it to multiple clinicopathologic data. Material and Methods: We analyzed 60 patients with HCC for multiple clinicopathologic characteristics and survival. Presence of the immunosignal and the percentage of positive tumor cells at the whole tumor tissue sample and adjacent cirrhotic liver tissue were semi-quantitatively determined. Results: Nineteen patients (31.67%) were female and 41 (68.33%) were male ranging in age from 31 to 85 years, median 61.88±10.51. Mean survival time for female patients was 8.86±1.76 months, for male 13.03±1.50 months and overall survival was 11.6051±1.19 months. The most patients had: T2 status (41.67%), no enlarged lymph nodes (90%), vascular invasion (63.33%) and well differentiated (43.33%) tumors. EGFR immunoexpression was determined in range from 0% to 100% in both tumor and non-tumor tissue with mean value of 39.58% in tumor and 86.86% in cirrhotic tissue (p<0.00). Higher percent of tumor EGFR positive cells were found in cases with higher T status, higher levels of AFP and poorly differentiated carcinoma, but not significantly. Lower percent of tumor EGFR positive cells were found in patients with vascular invasion and enlarged lymph nodes, but also not significantly. EGFR expression in tumor tissue significantly influenced survival of the patients (p<0.05). Conclusion: The study showed that expression of EGFR in lower percentage of tumor cells was associated to favorable prognosis, making it a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target.

Thyroid disorders, especially thyrotoxicosis, are commonly associated with hepatic dysfunction, but cholestasis is rarely reported. Heart failure, infection, weight loss may play role in the pathogenesis of cholestasis. Cholestasis could be worsened by treatment of hyperthyroidism using Thiamazole, but cholestasis in undiagnosed thyrotoxicosis is uncommon. We present 23 year old female with jaundice, goiter, palpitation and confirmed thyrotoxicosis associated with hepatomegaly, hepatocelluar damage and cholestasis. Liver biopsy excluded the suspicion of autoimmune hepatitis. Therapeutic plasma exchange was performed 5 days after starting the treatment with thyroid supressive therapy, and hepatoprotective therapy due to progressive increase of serum levels of bilirubin (conjugated/direct) and liver enzymes. The patient treatment continued with low doses of thyroid suppressive therapy. Patient achieved euthyroid state after 2 months with normalization of the serum levels of liver enzymes and bilirubin. The final treatment option for our patient was surgical total thyroidectomy.