title: Glypican 3 as a Serum Marker for Hepatoblastoma.
abstract: Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common primary liver cancer in children. The conventional serum marker for HB, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), has its limitations. Novel serum markers need to be explored. Glypican 3 (GPC3) has been reported to be an excellent histological immunomarker for HB. However, the clinical value of serum GPC3 in patients with HB is unknown. A total of 184 serum samples were tested for both GPC3 by ELISA, and AFP by immunometric assay. Of these, 134 were from 32 patients with HB at three treatment stages, 30 from age-matched patients with benign hepatobiliary disorders (BHD) and 20 from age-matched "normal controls"(NC). We found that the GPC3 levels in HB pretreatment group were significantly higher than those in NC group and HB remission group but not statistically different from those in BHD group and HB during treatment group. In contrast, AFP showed significant differences among different groups. The areas under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) value, sensitivity and specificity of GPC3 for HB pretreatment group versus all controls were all significantly lower than those of AFP. Serum GPC3 levels were not associated with prognostic parameters. We concluded that GPC3 is inferior to AFP as a serum marker for HB.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Shengmei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Maurice R G
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: O'Gorman
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Fusheng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andresen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.|Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D053673:Glypicans / Q000097:blood*; D018197:Hepatoblastoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C105937:GPC3 protein, human; D053673:Glypicans; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins