Clinical Significance of Plasma Osteopontin Level in Egyptian Patients with Hepatitis C Virus-related Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and aggressive malignancies worldwide. Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted glycoprotein frequently associated with various tumors. This study aimed to investigate the clinical usefulness of plasma OPN level as a biomarker for HCC among high-risk patients compared to alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and to evaluate its relationship with clinicopathological features of HCC patients. Plasma levels of OPN and AFP were measured in 60 Egyptian patients with hepatitis C virus-related liver cirrhosis (30 with HCC, 30 without HCC) and 20 healthy controls. Plasma OPN levels in cirrhotic patients with HCC were significantly higher than in those without HCC and controls (p <0.001). Among HCC patients, plasma levels of OPN increased significantly with advanced Child-Pugh class (B-C, p <0.001), late tumor stage (III-IV, p <0.001), larger tumor size (≥5 cm, p <0.01), and high tumor grade (p <0.01). The sensitivity and specificity of OPN for HCC were 88.3% and 85.6%, respectively, at a cut-off value of 9.3 ng/mL. OPN had a greater area under curve value (0.918) than AFP (0.712), suggesting superior diagnostic accuracy of OPN. Moreover, no significant correlation was found between OPN and AFP levels in HCC patients. Plasma OPN can be regarded as a promising diagnostic biomarker for HCC in the surveillance of Egyptian patients with HCV infection. It could also serve as an adverse prognostic factor for HCV-related HCC patients.