title: Clinical evaluation of plasma des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin as a marker protein of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with tumors of various sizes.
abstract: We measured des-gamma-carboxyprothrombin (DCP) (prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II, abbreviated as PIVKA-II) by a newly developed enzyme immunoassay using an anti-DCP monoclonal antibody in 665 human subjects, of which 112 were patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). PIVKA-II was elevated to more than 0.1 AU/ml in 54 of the 112 patients (48.2%) with HCC, while it was positive only in 7.1% of those with liver cirrhosis and 3.1% of those with chronic hepatitis. Three patients with elevated PIVKA-II greater than 0.1 AU/ml who had been diagnosed as having liver cirrhosis by ultrasonography and computed tomography at the start of this study developed a diffuse type of HCC three or six months later, which was detected by angiography. No obvious correlation was observed between plasma PIVKA-II concentration and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level in HCC patients. Of the 112 HCC patients, 40.2% showed an increase in AFP to above 200 ng/ml. In the remaining patients, 32.8% had a PIVKA-II concentration greater than 0.1 AU/ml. In these patients with a negative or low serum AFP concentration, PIVKA-II proved to be a valuable tumor marker for laboratory diagnosis of HCC. Among them, 59.8% tested positive for PIVKA-II and/or AFP. Thus, combination assay with PIVKA-II and AFP seems useful for increasing the accuracy of laboratory diagnosis of HCC. None of patients with a solitary tumor smaller than 2 cm had elevated PIVKA-II. In patients with larger-sized and multiple HCC, positive results of elevated PIVKA-II were more frequent than those of increased AFP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kasahara
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fusamoto
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamada
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000097:blood; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008403:Mass Screening; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000032:analysis*; D011516:Prothrombin / Q000032:analysis*; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011498:Protein Precursors; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C008208:acarboxyprothrombin; D011516:Prothrombin