Biochemical studies on fibronectin in patients with chronic liver diseases

The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of fibronectin to discriminate between significant [F2-F4] and none significant fibrosis [F0-F1] in order to avoid liver biopsy. Fibronectin was identified using specific monoclonal antibody and Western blot at 90-kDa in serum of chronic HCV patients. Fibronectin was quantified in serum using ELISA technique. The Cut-off level of fibronectin was 400 micro g/ml. The mean +/- SD [micro g/ml] of serum fibronectin concentration in patients with none significant liver fibrosis were 317 +/- 184 and in patients with significant liver fibrosis were 587.8 +/- 322. There were significant differences among two groups of patients [P<0.0001]. The area under the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve of fibronectin for discriminating patients with none significant liver fibrosis from those with significant liver fibrosis were 0.78. The diagnostic values of the fibronectin in discriminating patients with none significant liver fibrosis from patients with significant liver fibrosis were high with 82% sensitivity, 68% specificity, 81% negative predictive value, 69% positive predictive value and 76% efficiency. In conclusion, serum fibronectin has a good diagnostic performance and can be used for discriminating patients with non significant liver fibrosis from patients with significant liver fibrosis

Biochemcal studies of hepatocarcinogenesis in rats treated with chemical carcinogens

The present study was conducted on rats receiving nitrosamines precursors in their drinking water, namely 2000 ppm dibutylamine and 4000 ppm nitrite, to follow up biochemical changes that may occur in the growth of liver tumours. Impairment of liver function tests; transaminases and protein pattern occurred 2 months following carcinogenesis.Also, highly significant increase in the activity of several enzyme e.g. glucose -6-phosphate, Y- glutamyltransferase, 5- nucleotidase, acid and alkaline phosphatase were observed in both serum and liver tissue of these treated rats and were shown to parallel with continued carcinogesis moreover, high elevation in DNA content was also observed in liver tissue of rats with hepatocarcinoma and reached 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8 times that of control rats after 2, 4 and 7 months respectively. In contrast, highly significant decrease were observed in hepatic glycogen content and serum glucose level. These observations may be of value for confirming the detection and diagnosis of liver metastasis