Abstract
BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the commonest malignancies worldwide that carries a bad prognosis particularly in Egypt due to the high prevalence of HCV burden. Late diagnosis of HCC especially in cirrhosis suffering-liver is one of the causes that worsen HCC outcome. Identification of molecular pathways of HCC will open the gate for early diagnosis and effective management. Oscillation of calcium controlled by the α2δ1 subunit has been proposed as one of the mechanisms in tumor-initiating cell properties of HCC. In this study, we aim to evaluate the serum α2δ1 subunit level as a biological marker for HCC. A total of 90 participants were enrolled, 40 patients with HCC, 40 patients with cirrhosis, and 10 healthy volunteers; serum level of α2δ1 was assessed in all participants with ELISAResultsThe mean serum levels of α2δ1 were significantly higher in HCC group (19.53 ± 6.87 ng/dL) than cirrhotic (6.24 ± 2.64 ng/dL) and control groups (0.67 ± 0.48 ng/dL) (P = 0.001). There was no significance between α2δ1 and etiology of liver disease as viral (HCV, HBV) or non-viral (P = 0.14).Conclusionα2δ1 subunit may serve as a potential non-invasive marker with excellent sensitivity for diagnosis of HCC regardless of the etiology of liver disease.
Highlights
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the commonest malignancies worldwide that carries a bad prognosis in Egypt due to the high prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) burden
In 1994, Lapidot and his team introduced the concept of cancer stem cell (CSC) through transplantation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells from recently diagnosed patients into severe combined immune deficient (SCID) mice [6]
Many CSCs have been identified in HCC, one of them was isoform 5 of the cell surface voltage-gated calcium channel α2δ1 described by Zhao et al [9], they inject
Summary
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the commonest malignancies worldwide that carries a bad prognosis in Egypt due to the high prevalence of HCV burden. HCC has molecular subgroups reflecting the biological background and might have prognostic potential and selection criteria for therapy; among the subgroups there are two major subtypes each encompassing almost 50% of patients: one, proliferation class, which is poorly differentiated, had worse clinical outcome, expressing high alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels with more vascular. In 1994, Lapidot and his team introduced the concept of cancer stem cell (CSC) through transplantation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells from recently diagnosed patients into severe combined immune deficient (SCID) mice [6]. This CSC can self-renew, differentiate into all tumor cell lines giving the criteria of tumor hierarchy and intra-tumoral heterogeneity, have the unique tumorinitiating capability, and own high resistance to chemotherapy [7]. Many CSCs have been identified in HCC, one of them was isoform 5 of the cell surface voltage-gated calcium channel α2δ1 described by Zhao et al [9], they inject
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