Combination of serum paraoxonase/arylesterase 1 and antithrombin-III is a promising non-invasion biomarker for discrimination of AFP-negative HCC versus liver cirrhosis patients.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

α-fetoprotein is often used in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, there are currently less efficient and highly specific biomarkers to distinguish AFP-negative HCC from liver cirrhosis (LC) patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients who were treated in our hospitals. iTRAQ coupled with mass spectrometry was used to identify candidate serum proteins in a discovery set (n = 36) including AFP-negative HCC and LC patients. After Western blot detection, potential serum biomarkers were confirmed using ELISA in a validation set (n = 90). The diagnostic performance of the selected proteins was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC).

RESULTS:

PON1 and ATIII were selected as target proteins and were significantly higher in LC than those in AFP-negative HCC patients as validated by Western blot and ELISA, which was consistent with the result of iTRAQ. The AUC was 0.848 as PON1 and ATIII were combined (sensitivity: 80.0%; specificity: 73.3%), and performed much better than that of a single biomarker.

CONCLUSION:

These findings suggest that PON1 and ATIII have the potential to serve as effective biomarkers for distinguishing AFP-negative HCC from cirrhosis.

• Authors: Xinyi Cao, Zhao Cao, Chao Ou, Lei Zhang, Yanhua Chen, Yanqiu Li, Bo Zhu, Hong Shu
• Journal: Clinics and research in hepatology and gastroenterology (Clin Res Hepatol Gastroenterol) Vol. 45 Issue 5 Pg. 101583 (09 2021) ISSN: 2210-741X [Electronic] France
• PMID: 33756265 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Antithrombins
• Biomarkers
• alpha-Fetoproteins
• Aryldialkylphosphatase

Topics

• Antithrombins (blood)
• Aryldialkylphosphatase (blood)
• Biomarkers (blood)
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular (blood, diagnosis)
• Humans
• Liver Cirrhosis (blood, diagnosis)
• Liver Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis)
• Retrospective Studies
• alpha-Fetoproteins (metabolism)