title: Assessment of the clinical significance of serum vascular endothelial growth factor and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The pre-therapeutic serum levels of VEGF and MMP-9 were studied in patients with HCC, cirrhotic patients and in healthy subjects by an ELISA assay to elucidate the relationship between serum VEGF, MMP-9 levels and clinicopathological characteristics of HCC. The serum VEGF and MMP-9 were significantly elevated in HCC patients with macroscopic portal vein invasion and with metastasis as compared to HCC patients with neither invasion nor metastasis. Serum VEGF showed a significant difference between HCC patients with tumor size >5cm and <5 cm, however serum MMP-9 did not vary with tumor size. It was concluded that the portal vein invasion and metastasis in HCC is a complex process involving multiple factors including VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and MMP-9 induced degradation of extracellular matrix. The pre-therapeutic serum VEGF & MMP-9 in HCC might be candidate biomarkers reflecting the disease potential for vascular invasion and metastasis, serum VEGF being a superior biomarker as it correlated also with tumor size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical chemistry, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Imbaba, Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Laila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kamel
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nessim
authors.forename: Afaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abd-el-Hady
authors.forename: Aiman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghali
authors.forename: Alaa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ismail
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9