title: Expression and diagnostic value of CCT3 and IQGAP3 in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate plasma chaperonin containing TCP1 complex subunit 3 (CCT3) and IQ-motif-containing GTPase-activating protein-3 (IQGAP3) as biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening and diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Blood samples were collected from 126 HCC patients with HCC, 88 patients with cirrhosis and 50 healthy volunteers to detect plasma α-fetoprotein (AFP), CCT3 and IQGAP3 levels. Plasma AFP, CCT3 and IQGAP3 protein levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the plasma of HCC patients, both CCT3 and IQGAP3 were significantly higher than in patients with cirrhosis and in healthy controls (P < 0.01). CCT3 and IQGAP3 protein level correlated well with HCC etiology, tumor size, TNM stage, and child-pugh classification. CCT3 protein had higher sensitivity in the diagnosis of HCC when compared with AFP (87.3 vs 69.8 %). In addition, CCT3 and IQGAP3 protein were able to complement AFP in detecting AFP-negative HCC patients with sensitivity and specificity of 92.1 and 70.5 % and 81.6 and 71.6 %, respectively. In the small HCC group, CCT3 and IQGAP3 protein had sensitivity of 76.6 and 74.5 %, respectively. The combination of AFP + CCT3 + IQGAP3 (0.954) had significantly superior discriminative ability than AFP alone (0.815; P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CCT3 and IQGAP3 are novel complementary biomarkers for HCC screening and diagnosis, especially for AFP-negative and small HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 7 Wei Wu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003 Henan China.
authors.forename: E-Na
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 7 Wei Wu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003 Henan China.
authors.forename: Shuang-Yin
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 7 Wei Wu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003 Henan China.
authors.forename: Song-Ze
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 7 Wei Wu Road, Zhengzhou, 450003 Henan China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lv
keywords: Chaperonin containing TCP1 complex subunit 3; Diagnostic biomarker; Hepatocellular carcinoma; IQ-motif-containing GTPase-activating protein-3; α-Fetoprotein