Evaluation of serum clusterin as a surveillance tool for human hepatocellular carcinoma with hepatitis B virus related cirrhosis.
OBJECTIVE
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common human cancer worldwide. The levels of serum clusterin in HCC patients and its potential diagnostic significance is not clear. We aimed to evaluate the clinical use of serum clusterin levels as a surveillance tool for HCC with hepatitis B virus (HBV) related cirrhosis.


METHODS
Twenty-two cases of healthy subjects, 31 cases of HBV carriers, 26 patients with chronic hepatitis B, 29 patients with cirrhosis, and 76 patients with HCC were enrolled in this study. Serum levels of clusterin were measured by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.


RESULTS
The serum clusterin levels in HCC patients were significantly lower than that in healthy, HBV carriers and chronic hepatitis B, but statistically higher than in cirrhosis patients. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve indicated that a serum clusterin value of 50 microg/mL yielded the best sensitivity (91%) and specificity (83%) for differentiating HCC patients with HBV-related cirrhosis from those with HBV-related cirrhosis. The optimal alpha fetoprotein (AFP) cutoff value was 15 ng/mL and was inferior to the clusterin value of 50 microg/mL, the area under the ROC curves being 0.937 versus 0.781, respectively (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Serum clusterin was more sensitive and specific than serum AFP for differentiating HCC patients with HBV-related cirrhosis from those with HBV-related liver cirrhosis, and may be a useful surveillance tool of HCC based on HBV-related cirrhosis.
Wang
Yi
Y
State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Liu
Yan-Hui
YH
Mai
Shi-Juan
SJ
He
Long-Jun
LJ
Liao
Yi-Ji
YJ
Deng
Hai-Xia
HX
Guan
Xin-Yuan
XY
Zeng
Yi-Xin
YX
Kung
Hsiang-Fu
HF
Xie
Dan
D
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D051152:Clusterin / Q000097:blood*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
D051152:Clusterin; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins