title: The potential of plasma thrombomodulin as a biomarker of portal vein tumor thrombus in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Liver Cancer Institute and Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ye
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018180:Thrombomodulin