Early detection of HCC is critical for a good prognosis. Therefore, the development of tumor markers that can detect HCC at even earlier stages is urgent. Recent researches show that the human cervical cancer oncogene, gamma-glutamyl transferase mRNA, human telomerase reverse transcriptase mRNA, the proteins such as glypican-3, golgi protein 73, vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor-β1 could serve as markers for early detection of HCC.

OBJECTIVETo identify specific serum glycoprotein profiles that correspond to the carcinogenic process of primary liver cancer (PLC) by analyzing a population with high-incidence of PLC using lectin affinity microarray.

METHODSSerum samples were collected from individuals classified as high risk for PLC (including patients with liver cirrhosis and hepatitis B) and development of PLC was recorded. Healthy individuals served as normal controls. The serum samples were subjected to glycoprotein profling by using lectin microarrays and the results were confirmed by lectin blot. Between-group differences were statistically analyzed.

RESULTSPLC carcinogenesis was found to be correlated with enhanced affinity for AAL, ACL, ConA, LCA, MPL, NML, PHA-E, PHA-L, PSA, RCA-I, STL, VAL,WGA, and SNA (P less than 0.05). These data implied that changes in specific glycan structures, such as aFuc, GlcNAc, GalNAc, mannose, bisecting GlcNAc and terminal beta1-4 Gal, may be involved in PLC carcinogenesis . The PLC group showed significantly different results for all detected lectins, except SNA (P less than 0.05). However, among the PLC group, the SNA affinity was not significantly different for the hepatitis B group (P =0.443, P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONGlycans may be associated with the carcinogenic process of PLC and may be developed as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of PLC in the future.

Carcinogenesis ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Cohort Studies ; Glycoproteins ; blood ; Humans ; Lectins ; blood ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; pathology