title: Steroid hormone profiles plus α-fetoprotein for diagnosing primary liver cancer by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Primary liver cancer (PLC) is one of the most common malignant tumors world-wide but its pathogenesis is unclear. We suggest that steroid hormones may offer diagnostic information for PLC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using liquid chromatography (UPLC) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), we quantified 7 endogenous steroids in 66 PLC human serum samples, 59 liver cirrhosis (LC) samples, and 65 healthy volunteers (HV). Data were assessed chemometrically and with Mann-Whitney U tests and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  For PLC patients, androgens were low and estrogen was high. PLS-DA analysis discriminated between healthy subjects and cancer patients using (estrone+estradiol)/testosterone ratios. Moreover, cirrhosis patients were also distinguished with receiver operating characteristic curves indicating the specificity and sensitivity of our current approach.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Steroid hormone profiling by UPLC-MS/MS may be promising for early diagnosis of PLC but investigations with more patients and steroids are required to confirm the utility of these biomarkers for clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Zhanying
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Yunqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1065, USA.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China. Electronic address: gqzhang@smmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Guoqing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000728:Androgens / Q000378:metabolism*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D004967:Estrogens; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins
keywords: Biomarkers; Human serum; Primary liver cancer; Steroid hormones; UPLC-MS/MS