ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the core fucosylated alpha 2-macroglobulin(LCA-α2M) level in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), liver cirrhosis (LC) and chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and explore its diagnostic value in HCC. Methods A total of 193 HCC patients,104 LC patients and 71 HC patients in Shanghai Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital and 45 CHB patients in Changzheng Hospital from January 2013 to December 2016 were included for retrospective study. The method for detecting LCA-α2M was set up, and then the levels of serum α2M and LCA-α2M in each group were detected. The diagnostic value of LCA-α2M for HCC was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Result The level of LCA-α2M/α2M × 100(LCA-α2M％) was significantly higher in HCC patients[31.25(26.61-35.42)] than that in LC patients [26.00(22.30-30.64)], CHB patients[26.23 (23.86-31.86)] and healthy controls[20.29(17.35-22.60)] (H values were 5.626, 3.388 and 10.942, respectively, P<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of LCA-α2M％for identifying HCC was 0.768 (0.725-0.808). Combined α-fetoprotein(AFP) and LCA-α2M％, the area under the ROC curve was 0.890(0.856-0.919). For AFP negative HCC patients, the sensitivity of LCA-α2M％was 77.42％(24/31). Conclusion LCA-α2M％ has some values in assistant diagnosis of HCC, and could improve the detection of AFP negative HCC patients.