The potential of plasma thrombomodulin as a biomarker of portal vein tumor thrombus in hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between thrombomodulin (TM) plasma levels and the formation of portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
Pre- and-postoperative plasma TM levels of 45 patients with HCC and six patients with benign liver-occupying lesion were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the expression of TM in human HCC tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry assay.


RESULTS
The preoperative plasma TM level of patients with HCC (10.2+/-5.7 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that of those patients with benign liver-occupying lesion (6.1+/-2.2 ng/ml) and that of normal controls (5.7+/-1.0 ng/ml), respectively (P<0.05). The postoperative TM level of 40 patients with HCC whose tumors had been removed decreased significantly than the preoperative TM level (10.8+/-5.3 ng/ml versus 7.6+/-4.2 ng/ ml, P < 0.05), whereas there was no significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative TM level of six patients with benign liver-occupying lesion (6.1+/-2.2 ng/ml versus 5.9+/-1.8 ng/ml, P>0.05). The preoperative plasma TM level of patients with single HCC (11.5+/-5.9 ng/ml) or no PVTT (11.4+/-5.6 ng/ml) was significantly higher than that of those patients with multiple HCC (8.1+/-4.6 ng/ml) or PVTT (6.9+/-4.5 ng/ ml), respectively (P<0.05). The preoperative plasma TM level of the patients with HCC tissue that stained positive for TM was significantly higher than those with tissue that stained negative for TM (12.2+/-6.5 ng/ ml versus 8.7+/-4.6 ng/ml, P<0.05). The postoperative plasma TM level showed no difference between the patients with HCC tissue stained positive and negative for TM (8.3+/-4.1 ng/ml versus 7.6+/-4.4 ng/ml, P>0.05). There was also no significant difference between the plasma TM level and other clinicopathological futures.


CONCLUSIONS
Plasma TM increases in patients with HCC and can be a biomarker of the formation of PVTT.
Zhou
J
J
Liver Cancer Institute and Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
Tang
Z Y
ZY
Fan
J
J
Wu
Z Q
ZQ
Ji
Y
Y
Ye
S L
SL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000473:pathology*; D018180:Thrombomodulin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018180:Thrombomodulin