Alpha-fetoprotein and human telomerase reverse transcriptase mRNA levels in peripheral blood of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
Tumor-associated gene expression in peripheral blood reflects the presence of circulating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and might be associated with aggressive features of HCC. We assessed the prognostic significance of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and human telomerase reverse transcriptase protein (hTERT) mRNA expression in the peripheral blood of HCC patients.


METHODS
About 343 HCC patients, treated at the National Cancer Center, Korea, were included in this study. We measured AFP and hTERT mRNA levels in peripheral blood using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The association between the expression of each gene and survival was analyzed.


RESULTS
AFP and hTERT mRNA were detected in 204 (59.5%) and 48 (14.0%) patients with HCC, respectively. The mean AFP copy number was 203 copies/microL (range 0-19992 copies/microL) and that of hTERT was 26 copies/microL (0-1711 copies/microL). AFP mRNA expression was correlated with the number of tumors (P = 0.05), but there were no significant association between hTERT expression and clinical features. There was also no relationship between overall survival and AFP (P = 0.08) or hTERT (P = 0.67) mRNA expression.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first report to evaluate the association between peripheral blood hTERT mRNA expression, and survival of HCC patients. The results indicate that AFP and hTERT mRNA expression in peripheral blood may not be useful HCC prognostic markers.
Kong
Sun-Young
SY
Center for Clinical Services, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Research Institute and Hospital, National Cancer Center, 809 Madu 1-dong, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi 410-769, Republic of Korea.
Park
Joong-Won
JW
Kim
Jin Oak
JO
Lee
Nam Oak
NO
Lee
Jung An
JA
Park
Kyung Woo
KW
Hong
Eun Kyung
EK
Kim
Chang-Min
CM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000378:metabolism; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000097:blood; D016019:Survival Analysis; D019098:Telomerase / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase