Manganese superoxide dismutase activity and incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with Child-Pugh class A liver cirrhosis: a 7-year follow-up study.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate possible modifications in the manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) activity during neoplastic transformation of a cirrhotic liver and to find out whether its assessment may have predictive value to identify cirrhotic patients at a higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
Seventy-one consecutive subjects with Child-Pugh class A liver cirrhosis were recruited. At the time of enrolment, HCC was diagnosed in 20 cirrhotic patients. The 51 cirrhotic patients without HCC were followed up for the occurrence of tumour by 6-monthly screening for 7 years. During follow-up, 16 patients developed HCC. Seventy healthy subjects formed the control group. MnSOD activity was assayed spectrophotometrically.


RESULTS
Serum MnSOD activity was significantly lower in 70 healthy subjects compared with 51 cirrhotic patients and 20 cirrhotic patients with HCC. Cirrhotic patients who developed HCC during follow-up showed significantly higher values of MnSOD activity than HCC-free patients. The best cut-off of MnSOD activity was 0.40 U/ml. At this cut-off, chi2 analysis revealed that MnSOD activity was significantly different between the HCC-free cirrhotic patients and cirrhotic patients who developed HCC.


CONCLUSIONS
The present findings suggest that during neoplastic transformation of cirrhotic liver, an increase in MnSOD activity may occur already during the precancerous phase, making this enzyme a probable malignancy-associated parameter.
Clemente
Caterina
C
Laboratory of Experimental Biochemistry, National Institute for Digestive Sciences, IRCCS S. De Bellis, Castellana Grotte (Ba) Italy. irccsbiochimica@libero.it
Elba
Silvana
S
Buongiorno
Gianpiero
G
Guerra
Vito
V
D'Attoma
Benedetta
B
Orlando
Antonella
A
Russo
Francesco
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000201:enzymology / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000097:blood*; D013997:Time Factors
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase