Des-γ-carboxy prothrombin ratio measured by P-11 and P-16 antibodies is a novel biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

Serum tumor markers, including α-fetoprotein (AFP) and des-γ-carboxy prothrombin (DCP), are currently used in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There is, however, an aberrant increase in serum DCP in patients with obstructive jaundice, vitamin K deficiency or who are taking warfarin, resulting from a problem with the current methodology for measurement of this marker. This study aimed to elucidate the utility of a new biomarker, NX-PVKA, for early diagnosis of HCC. A total of 96 patients were included in the HCC group. The control group included 138 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients without HCC. Serum concentrations of conventional DCP, AFP, AFP-L3 and NX-PVKA were measured. The NX-PVKA ratio was calculated by dividing DCP by NX-PVKA. In patients not taking warfarin, the area under the curve values of DCP, NX-PVKA ratio, AFP and AFP-L3 were 0.715, 0.690, 0.737 and 0.654, respectively, confirming the clinical utility of these markers in detecting HCC. In cases with DCP > 35 mAU/mL in particular, a significant increase in the NX-PVKA ratio was observed in patients with HCC. In those cases, the cut-off value for the NX-PVKA ratio that was optimized by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 1.15. In addition, the sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing HCC were 69.2% and 75.9%, respectively. Patients with HCC had higher NX-PVKA ratios compared to patients with LC taking warfarin (P = 0.063). These results suggest that, when used in combination with DCP, the NX-PVKA ratio is a promising novel marker for the detection of HCC.

• Authors: Masahiko Tameda, Katsuya Shiraki, Kazushi Sugimoto, Suguru Ogura, Yuji Inagaki, Norihiko Yamamoto, Makoto Ikejiri, Yoshiyuki Takei, Masaaki Ito, Tsutomu Nobori
• Journal: Cancer science (Cancer Sci) Vol. 104 Issue 6 Pg. 725-31 (Jun 2013) ISSN: 1349-7006 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 23480217 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2013 Japanese Cancer Association.

Chemical References

• Antibodies
• Biomarkers
• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Protein Precursors
• acarboxyprothrombin
• Prothrombin

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Antibodies
• Biomarkers (blood)
• Biomarkers, Tumor (blood)
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular (blood)
• Early Detection of Cancer (methods)
• Female
• Humans
• Liver Neoplasms (blood)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Protein Precursors (blood)
• Prothrombin
• ROC Curve
• Sensitivity and Specificity