title: Serum levels of β-catenin as a potential marker for genotype 4/hepatitis C-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: The global rising incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which parallels the increase of hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence, has sparked a renewed interest in discovering additional HCC serum markers. In this study, we investigated the clinical use of serum E-cadherin, ICAM, MMP-2, VEGF, OPN and β-catenin as potential diagnostic makers for HCV/genotype 4-associated HCC. Twenty cases of healthy subjects, 11 cases with asymptomatic HCV/genotype 4 carriers (ASC), 28 chronic hepatitis (CH) cases and 32 patients with HCC were enrolled in this study. Serum levels of proteins were measured by a sandwich-enzyme-linked (ELISA) assay. The diagnostic accuracy of each candidate marker was evaluated using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, reporting the area under the curve (AUC) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). We demonstrated that serum β-catenin levels were significantly elevated in patients with HCC compared to those with CH, ASC and healthy controls. Among the six studied markers, β-catenin was also found to be the only marker that can significantly discriminate between patients with HCC and those with CH; therefore, β-catenin could be considered as a potential marker for early diagnosis of HCV-associated HCC in patients infected with HCV genotype 4.
authors.affiliation: Virology and Immunology Unit, Cancer Biology Department, National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdel-Rahman N
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Zekri
authors.forename: Abeer A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bahnassy
authors.forename: Hanaa M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Alam El-Din
authors.forename: Heba M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Morsy
authors.forename: Sabry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shaarawy
authors.forename: Nagia Z
authors.initials: NZ
authors.lastname: Moharram
authors.forename: Sayed S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Daoud
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000097:blood; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D053495:Osteopontin / Q000097:blood; D012307:Risk Factors; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000097:blood; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D015820:Cadherins; D051176:beta Catenin; D053495:Osteopontin; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1; C501162:FLT1 protein, human; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2