Abstract:

Objective     To explore significances of Golgi protein 73(GP73) and Alpha-fetoprotein variant(AFP-L3) in the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus-related primary hepatic carcinoma(PHC).  Methods      Enzymelinked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to detect the serum level of GP73 in 56 cases of PHC, 33 cases of liver cirrhosis, 23 cases of chronic hepatitis B and 20 healthy controls. AFP-L3 was isolated by using affinity microcentrifugalcolumn; AFP and AFP-L3 were detected with chemiluminescent immunoassay and then the proportion of AFP-L3 was calculated. Results     Serum GP73 levels in the PHC, liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis and healthy groups were 247.05（228.35~287.72）, 176.83（159.51~183.98）, 152.58（135.19~162.85） and 43.00（37.96~52.64）ng/mL, respectively, and AFP-L3% was 14.52（12.33~15.28）%， 5.68（4.32~7.74）%， 4.31（3.57~6.45）%  and 3.29（2.60~4.25）%,  respectively. GP73 and AFPL3% levels were significantly higher in patients with PHC compared with those in other groups(P<0.01). Areas under the ROC curves of GP73 and AFPL3% were 0.825 and 0.828, respectively, and optimal cut-off values were 187.60ng/mL and 9.98% when diagnosing PHC, with sensitivities of 69.6% and 64.3%and specificities of 86.8% and 96.1%. Combined detection of the two parameters could improve the sensitivity up to 82.1% and maintain a high specificity of 85.5%. Conclusion    Both serum GP73 and AFP-L3% could be used as biomarkers in the diagnosis of PHC, and combined detection of them could improve diagnostic accuracy, with a higher sensitivity.

Key words: Primary hepatic carcinoma; Tumor biomarker; Golgi protein73; Alpha-fetoprotein variant