Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; RNA, Messenger ; blood ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; analysis

No abstract available.
Biological Markers/*blood ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*diagnosis ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Protein Precursors/*blood ; Prothrombin ; Tumor Markers, Biological/*blood

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical significance of AFP-L3 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

METHODSSerum AFP-L3 variants were separated by micro centrifugal column, and detected by chemiluminescence.

RESULTSAFP and AFP-L3 levels were higher in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma than those in patients with chronic hepatitis (P<0.001); as a diagnostic target, the sensitivity and specificity of AFP-L3 were 72.3 percent and 97.2 percent, respectively. Eight patients with hepatitis have higher AFP-L3, but none of them were found with carcinoma by CT three months later.

CONCLUSIONAFP-L3 is very useful in the diagnosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Adult ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood ; diagnosis ; Centrifugation ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; analysis ; isolation & purification

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist II (PIVKA-II) appears to be a useful tumor marker for the evaluation of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). But the usefulness of PIVKA-II was not yet clear in Korea where hepatitis B-virus is endemic. We investigated the usefulness of PIVKA-II in the diagnosis and follow-up after treatment of HCC. METHODS: We studied patients with HCC which was pathologically confirmed. PIVKA-II was measured by enzyme immunoassay. PIVKA-II levels before and after treatment, in correlation with imaging studies, were analyzed for the comparison of treatment responses. Kappa index was obtained. RESULTS: A total of 129 patients were included. 93 patients (72%) were HBsAg positive. 86 patients (67%) were PIVKA-II >40 mAU/mL. 52 patients (40%) were AFP >20 ng/mL and 77 patients (60%) were AFP 40 mAU/mL. 68 of 129 patients were evaluated treatment response. On the basis of radiologic response, CR was 33, PR 17, SD 12, and PD 6. Of the 33 radiologic CR patients, 30 patients were CR and 3 patients were PR by means of PIVKA-II response. Of the 17 radiologic PR patients, 6 patients were CR and 7 patients were PR. Therefore, tumor responses by radiologic and PIVKA-II were well correlated (Kappa index was 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: PIVKA-II can be used as a useful tumor marker for patients with HCC, especially those with low levels of AFP, before and after treatment in Korea.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*diagnosis/therapy ; English Abstract ; Human ; Liver Neoplasms/*diagnosis/therapy ; Protein Precursors/*blood ; Prothrombin ; Tumor Markers, Biological/*blood

Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood ; diagnosis ; Female ; Gene Amplification ; Humans ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor II ; analysis ; genetics ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Male ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger ; blood

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnosis ; pathology ; DNA ; blood ; DNA Methylation ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods

Nodular hepatic involvement of multiple myeloma is very rare. We report a case of nodular hepatic involvement of multiple myeloma, mimicking hypervascular hepatocellular carcinoma.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/blood supply/*diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; English Abstract ; Human ; Liver Neoplasms/blood supply/*diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multiple Myeloma/*diagnosis

Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood ; diagnosis ; Case-Control Studies ; Cystatin B ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged

Adult ; Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; blood ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; blood ; diagnosis ; Middle Aged ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

OBJECTIVETo investigate the enhanced predictive activity of preoperative plasma osteopontin (OPN) level in combination with intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) for recurrence and prognosis of patients after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODSA total of 75 patients received liver resection for HCC from August 2001 to December 2001 in authors' institute were enrolled in this study. The preoperative plasma levels of OPN and ICAM-1 were detected by ELISA, and the association of them combination with the recurrence and prognosis of HCC patients was analyzed.

RESULTSOPN and ICAM-1 could be detected in all of the plasma samples of the tested patients. A significantly higher OPN level and ICAM-1 level were found in plasma of patients who were found to have HCC recurrence during the follow-up time compared with those without recurrence (210.40 vs. 154.86 ng/ml, P = 0.001; 1011.23 vs. 747.49 ng/ml, P = 0.027). A significant difference of OS and DFS were found in different subgroups with higher or lower level of OPN (625 vs. 808 days, P = 0.0006; 433 vs. 674 days, P = 0.0003); and a similar situation was found in patients of high- and low- ICAM-1 levels (651 vs. 794 days, P = 0.0269; 489 vs. 642 days, P = 0.0248). The 2-year recurrence rates of the patients with higher and lower plasma levels of both OPN and ICAM-1 were 87.50% and 28.00% (P < 0.001), respectively; and the 2-year OS rates were 37.50% and 88.00% (P = 0.001), and the 2-year DFS rates were 12.50%, and 76.00 (P = 0.001), respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe evaluation of preoperative plasma level of OPN or ICAM-1 may be helpful to predict the recurrence and prognosis of HCC patients in advance. The assessment of OPN level in combination with ICAM-1 could stratify patients into groups with different potentials of HCC recurrence and different outcomes more accurately than OPN or ICAM-1 individually.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; blood ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Osteopontin ; blood ; Prognosis