title: Assessment of the Clinical Utility of Glypican 3 as a Serum Marker for the Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
abstract: Glypican-3 has been reported to be one of the most promising serum markers for hepatocellular carcinoma. This study aimed to assess the clinical utility of serum glypican 3 for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. We recruited consecutive patients on a large scale, 283 with hepatocellular carcinoma, 445 with chronic hepatic diseases, and 162 normal controls, to assess the diagnostic accuracy of serum glypican 3 for hepatocellular carcinoma by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, we further analyzed the relationship between the serum levels of α-fetoprotein and glypican-3 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The results indicated that serum glypican 3 was elevated in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (0 ng/mL, range = 0-14.0 ng/mL, P = .033) and liver cirrhosis (0 ng/mL, range = 0-12.5 ng/mL, P = .001) compared to the levels in normal control (0 ng/mL, range = 0-4.3 ng/mL), but there was no difference between hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis (P = .097). The area under the curve of the receiver-operating characteristics curve for hepatocellular carcinoma versus all controls was 0.519, with a sensitivity of 39.9%, a specificity of 60.6%, and an optimal cutoff value of 0.002 ng/mL. The positive and negative predictive values were 32.0% and 68.3%, respectively. No significant correlation in serum levels was observed between glypican 3 and α-fetoprotein (P > .05). The diagnostic sensitivity for hepatocellular carcinoma increased to 72.8% (206 of the 283) when glypican 3 was combined with α-fetoprotein. Glypican 3 was not a promising serum maker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma alone, but it could be complementary to α-fetoprotein and elevate the sensitivity of hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Third Central Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.|Department of Thyroid and Breast surgery, Xuzhou Medical College, Jiangsu province, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Cell, Institute for Hepatobiliary Disease, Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Yingtang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Cell, Institute for Hepatobiliary Disease, Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Daokuan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Third Central Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Third Central Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Junjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Third Central Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Yajie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Cell, Institute for Hepatobiliary Disease, Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Artificial Cell, Institute for Hepatobiliary Disease, Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, China zhi-du@163.com.|Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D053673:Glypicans / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C105937:GPC3 protein, human; D053673:Glypicans; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins
keywords: ELISA; glypican-3; hepatocellular carcinoma; serum; α-fetoprotein