Basic fibroblast growth factor: a novel tumor marker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted on 22 patients with HCC, 11 patients with liver cirrhosis [LC], 12 patients with chronic hepatitis [CH] and 20 healthy controls aiming to assess the diagnostic performance of basic fibroblast growth factor [bFGF] as a novel tumor marker of hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC] versus alpha-fetoprotein as a conventional serum tumor marker. The study measured bFGF by ELISA technique, alpha-fetoprotein [AFP] by a chemiluminescent immunometric assay and type III procollagen [IIIP], which represented a marker of liver fibrosis, by a radioimmunoassay technique. The results indicated that patients with HCC had significantly higher serum bFGF levels [13.6 +/- 11.5 pg/ml] than those in the normal subjects [2.2 +/- 0.8 pg/ml] as well as in patients with CH [4.2 +/- 3.3 pg/ml] and LC [8.4 +/- 6.5 pg/ml]. The serum levels of bFGF increased gradually with the progression of chronic liver disease being highest in patients with HCC. None of the liver function test findings or levels of IIIP correlated with the levels of bFGF