Elevation of cytokeratin 19 fragment in serum in patients with hepatoma: its clinical significance.
OBJECTIVE
Cytokeratin 19 fragment (CK19) levels in serum have already been documented as a useful tumour marker for lung cancer. In the present study, we hypothesize that CK19 may be increased in serum from patients with hepatoma.


METHODS
We measured the CK19 levels in serum from patients with hepatoma and evaluated the correlation between CK19 level and each clinical parameter. We studied 70 patients diagnosed with hepatoma, and used 14 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 45 patients with liver cirrhosis as controls.


RESULTS
In 33 of 70 patients (47.1%) with hepatoma, the serum CK19 level was elevated to above the normal range. CK19 levels in serum from patients with hepatoma were significantly correlated with levels of alpha-fetoprotein and prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence for factor II (PIVKA-II). In 57 patients with hepatoma in whom both CK19 and alpha-fetoprotein were measured, only CK19 was elevated in seven patients (12.3%). Immunohistochemical studies using hepatoma tissues demonstrated that hepatoma cells were stained by anti-human CK19 antibody. We also demonstrated that the HepG2 cell line expressed CK1 9.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data demonstrate that hepatomas aberrantly express CK19, and that measurement of CK19 might be a useful tumour marker in diagnosing hepatoma.
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kagawa Medical University, Japan.
T
T
Nagai
M
M
Murota
M
M
Nishioka
J
J
Fujita
Y
Y
Ohtsuki
K
K
Dohmoto
S
S
Hojo
N
N
Dobashi
J
J
Takahara
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D001706:Biopsy; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007633:Keratins / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D007633:Keratins