The prognostic significance of preoperative plasma levels of osteopontin in patients with TNM stage-I of hepatocellular carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prognostic value of preoperative plasma osteopontin (OPN) levels in patients with early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
Preoperative plasma levels of OPN were detected by ELISA in 68 patients with tumor-node metastasis system stage-I of HBV-related HCC, and their association with tumor recurrence or patients' survival was analyzed.


RESULTS
The median plasma OPN level of patients was 82.51 ng/ml (25–75% interquartile range, 63.15–110.45 ng/ml). Plasma OPN levels in patients with tumor size C5 cm in diameter were significantly higher than that of patients with tumor size\5 cm in diameter (104.76 vs.75.16 ng/ml, P = 0.003). When the 100 ng/ml was used asa cut-off value to divide the patients into two groups: the higher plasma OPN group and the lower plasma OPN group, the tumor recurrence rate of the higher plasma OPN group was significantly higher than that of the lower plasma OPN group (52.17 vs. 24.44%, P = 0.022). Meanwhile, the recurrence rate of the patients with positive alpha fetoprotein (AFP) (45.5%) was significantly higher than that of those negative AFP patients (12.5%,P = 0.006). A higher plasma OPN level was one leading independent prognostic factor for both overall survival(OS) and relapse-free survival in multivariate Cox models.


CONCLUSIONS
The preoperative plasma OPN level and serum AFP level in patients with early stage of HCC can be used as a prognostic marker for early stage of HCC.
Sun
Jian
J
Liver Cancer Institute and Zhongshan Hospital, Institutes of Biomedical Science, Fudan University, 180 Feng Lin Road, 200032 Shanghai, China.
Xu
Hong-Mei
HM
Zhou
Hai-Jun
HJ
Dong
Qiong-Zhu
QZ
Zhao
Yue
Y
Fu
Li-Yun
LY
Hei
Zhen-Yu
ZY
Ye
Qing-Hai
QH
Ren
Ning
N
Jia
Hu-Liang
HL
Qin
Lun-Xiu
LX
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D053495:Osteopontin / Q000378:metabolism*; D057234:Preoperative Period; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D053495:Osteopontin