ABSTRACT
Purpose To evaluate the expression of Arginine-1 (Arg-1) and Glypican-3 (GPC-3) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and non-hepatocellular carcinoma,as well as to summarize the related researches.Methods 156 cases of HCC,5 cases of cholangiocarcinoma,20 cases of metastatic adenocarcinoma and 18 cases of other types of tumors were studied.Immunohistochemical study for Arg-1 and GPC-3 was performed on the formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumor tissues.Results The positive expression rates of Arg-1 in HCC and non-hepatocellular carcinoma were 93.6％ (146/156) and 0 (0/43),respectively,meanwhile the expression rate decreased with decreasing of differentiation (r =-0.264,P =0.001).GPC-3 expression was observed in 141 of 156 cases of HCC (90.4％) and 6 of 43 cases of non-hepatocellular carcinoma (14％),and the expression rate increased with decreasing of differentiation (r =0.179,P =0.026).The sensitivity,specificity,positive predictive value and negative predictive value of Arg-1 and GPC-3 in distinguishing HCC from non-hepatocellular carcinoma were 93.6％,100％,100％,81.1％ and 90.4％,86％,96.0％,71.2％,respectively.Conclusion Arg-1 is a sensitive and specific marker of hepatocytes.The application of Arg-1 and GPC-3 is of great significance in diagnosis of HCC and liver metastatic adenocarcinoma.
ABSTRACT
Five groups were assigned to include intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma ( ICC, n=30 ) , liver cirrhosis (LC,n=30),metastatic carcinoma (MCA,n=30) and 30 healthy subjects.The serum level of GPC3 was measured by a sandwich method of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA ) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) by microparticle enzyme immunoassay (MEIA).The serum levels of GPC3 and AFP were significantly higher than those of other groups (P<0.05).At a cut-off value of 3.5μg/L,the sensitivity and specificity of GPC3 in the diagnosis of HCC was 83.3%and 76.7%respectively.The sensitivity of combined measurement of GPC3 and AFP was better than GPC3 or AFP alone.Detectable GPC3 was significantly correlated with the presence of viral hepatitis markers and tumor size.However there was no obvious difference in tumor thrombi in portal vein ( PVTT), tumor number, age, gender or hepatic function of HCC.Thus,as a sensitive serum diagnostic marker for HCC ,GPC3 may be a good supplement to AFP in differentiating HCC from non-malignant chronic liver diseases and other liver cancers.