Abstract
Background: Most Hepatocellular Carcinomas (HCCs) are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Therefore, there is citation-type an urgent need for better methods of detection and surveillance of patients at risk of HCC. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has a suboptimal diagnostic performance for HCC surveillance, so novel and reliable diagnostic biomarkers are required. Objective: The aim of this work is to evaluate fucosylated haptoglobin as a diagnostic biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma in Egyptian patients. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was carried out on 60 patients classified into 3 groups (20 patients on each); group I (HCC group), group II (Cirrhotic group) and group III (Control group). Diagnosis of liver cirrhosis was done by clinical, biochemical and ultrasound (US), whereas the diagnosis of HCC was done by percutaneous biopsy or radiological (by US and triphasic Computerized Tomography (CT) based on the guidelines of the American-Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. HCC stage was clinically defined according to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system. AFP & fucosylated haptoglobin levels were estimated in all groups. Results: There was a statistically significant positive correlation between serum fucosylated haptoglobin and tumor size in the HCC group. Serum fucosylated haptoglobin (at 116 U/ ml) showed sensitivity 80%, specificity 65%, positive predictive value 53% and negative predictive value 87% with AUC 0.786. Combination of serum fucosylated haptoglobin and serum AFP at (200 ng/ ml) increased sensitivity that reached 95%. Conclusion: Serum fucosylated haptoglobin may serve as a novel diagnostic biomarker for the detection of HCC with higher sensitivity than AFP.
Highlights
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is common worldwide and is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths [1, 2]
Serum fucosylated haptoglobin may serve as a novel diagnostic biomarker for the detection of HCC with higher sensitivity than AFP
There was a significant difference between the HCC group and cirrhotic group, HCC group and control group and between cirrhotic group and control group
Summary
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is common worldwide and is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths [1, 2]. In Egypt, HCC is the fourth most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in both sexes [3 - 7]. When diagnosed at an early stage, treatment can be curative. Most HCCs are diagnosed at an advanced stage. There is an urgent need for better methods to assess and monitor people at risk of hepatocellular carcinoma [10, 11]. Most Hepatocellular Carcinomas (HCCs) are diagnosed at an advanced stage. There is citation-type an urgent need for better methods of detection and surveillance of patients at risk of HCC. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has a suboptimal diagnostic performance for HCC surveillance, so novel and reliable diagnostic biomarkers are required
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