ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the expression and clinical significance of B7-H3 and IL-21 in serum of patients with HBV-related primary liver cancer.Methods: Gathering 121 cases of HBV-related patients,50 cases of primary hepatic carcinoma of them were considered as hepatic carcinoma group,71 cases of benign group including 12 cases with acute hepatitis,21 cases of chronic moderate to severe hepatitis,20 cases of compensatory phase cirrhosis,18 cases of decompensated cirrhosis and 20 cases of healthy persons in the same period as normal control.The content of serum B7-H3 and IL-21 were detected by ELISA.HBV DNA quantitative results were analyzed by Quantitative Real-time PCR.Results: The levels of B7-H3 and IL-21 in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma were (207.60±57.16)ng/ml and(2 357.28±805.01)pg/ml,respectively,which were significantly higher than those of the normal control subjects(P<0.001).Comparison with the normal control subjects,the content of B7-H3 and IL-21 in serum of patients with different clinical types in the benign group increased significantly(P<0.001).B7-H3 and IL-21 were positively associated with each other in serum of patients with HBV-related primary liver cancer.The expression of sB7-H3 was not significantly correlated with the degree of HBV DNA replication.The expression of IL-21 was correlated with HBV DNA replication in patients with HBV associated hepatocellular carcinoma,but was not significantly correlated with the degree of HBV DNA replication.Conclusion: HBV-related primary hepatic carcinoma express sB7-H3 and IL-21 with high level.The continuous high expression of sB7-H3 and IL-21 in the body may be related to the development and prognosis of the patients.