Comment on "Research on values of GDF-15 level in the diagnosis of primary liver cancer and evaluation of chemotherapeutic effect".

Abstract

Objective To investigate the values of growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) level in the diagnosis of primary liver cancer and evaluation of chemotherapeutic effect. Patients and methods 92 patients with liver cancer treated from June 2015 to May 2016 were selected as liver cancer group; 53 patients with benign liver lesion were selected as benign liver disease group, and 40 healthy subjects receiving physical examination were selected as healthy control group. Fasting venous blood was drawn from objects of study in the early morning at 1 d after admission and at the last day after chemotherapy (liver cancer group), and the serum GDF-15 level was measured. Results The serum GDF-15 levels in patients in liver cancer group and benign liver disease group were significantly higher than those in healthy control group and benign liver disease group (p 0.05). The ROC curve analysis showed that the threshold value of GDF-15 was 1573.23 ng/L, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 81.23%, 83.99%, and 83.62%, respectively. The serum GDF-15 level in patients with progressive disease was significantly higher than those in patients with partial remission and stable disease, and the serum GDF-15 level in patients with stable disease was significantly higher than that in patients with partial remission (p Conclusions The serum GDF-15 level has certain clinical values in the diagnosis of primary liver cancer and evaluation of chemotherapeutic effect.