Plasma and tumoral glypican-3 levels are correlated in patients with hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a cancer antigen expressed in approximately 80% of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and is secreted into the blood. To confirm the effectiveness of GPC3 as a biomarker in HCC, we analyzed the relationship between GPC3 expression levels in cancer cells and in blood in 56 patients with HCC. Preoperative plasma GPC3 levels were determined with an immunoassay, and expression of GPC3 in resected tumors was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining. Median plasma GPC3 level in all HCC cases was 4.6 pg/mL, and tended to be higher in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC (HCV group) (9.9 pg/mL) than in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC (HBV group) (2.6 pg/mL) or in those without virus infection (None group) (3.0 pg/mL), suggesting that the virus type

SUBMITTER: Shimizu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7004540 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature