Evaluation of Serum Thioredoxin Level as a New Diagnostic Marker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

SUMMARY W orldwide, HCC is one of the most common forms of cancer and is the third leading cause of cancer related death with chronic HCV infection being a major risk factor. Although AFP is a commonly used tumor marker in the detection of HCC, it has low sensitivity reaching 40% in detection of small HCCs. Thioredoxin (TRX) acts as reductase in redox control and regulates programmed cell death. Such study aiming to evaluate the significance of serum thioredoxin level as a new diagnostic marker for HCC in patients with post hepatitis C liver cirrhosis where (90) persons were recruited from Ain Shams University Hospitals and Ahmed Maher teaching Hospital and divided into three groups; Group I included (30) patients with post hepatitis C liver cirrhosis and HCC, Group II included (30) patients with post hepatitis C liver cirrhosis without HCC, and Group III included (30) healthy subjects as a control group. TRX level was significantly different among studied groups being highest in HCC group followed by cirrhotic group and lowest in control group (p<0.001) with median levels = (137.1), (81.2), and (30.5) ng/ml respectively. There was significant positive correlation between TRX level and HCC size (p < 0.001, r =0.586) and HCC number (P=0.022).