Evaluation of transforming growth factor beta )TGF-) as novel diagnostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Background: The hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors and carries a poor survival rate. The management of patients at risk for developing HCC remains complicated. Although alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a useful serologic marker of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it has been reported insufficiently sensitive in detecting small HCCs. Serum transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGFbeta1) has been reported to be elevated in HCC patients compared with liver cirrhosis patients. It has been reported that TGFbeta1 mRNA was overexpressed in HCC, especially in patients with small HCC and well-differentiated HCC compared with patients with liver cirrhosis. The current study investigated the usefulness of TGFbeta1 compared with AFP in the diagnosis of HCC. METHODS: Fourty patients with HCC and other fourty patients with liver cirrhosis only. Measuring TGFbeta1 in serum by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and serum AFP levels at the time of diagnosis and then calculating the sensitivities and specificities separately and combined. RESULTS: Serum AFP levels were significantly higher in patients with l HCC than in those with liver cirrhosis while Serum TGFbeta1 was insignificantly increased in HCC group than that of liver cirrhosis. The cut-off values of plasma TGFbeta1 and serum AFP were ≥254 pg/mL and ≥165 ng/mL, respectively, where the specificities were 52.2% and 78.3% respectively while the sensitivities showed 64.5% and 71% respectively. The combined sensitivity of both increased to 97.3%.

CONCLUSIONS: The current results suggest that TGFbeta1 may be a useful serologic marker in combination with AFP in detecting HCCs. Key words: Transforming growth factor beta, Hepatocellular carcinoma, alpha-fetoprotein, ELISA