الفهرس 
Role of hypermethylation of rassf1a promoter and serum glypican 3 among egyptian patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
Table of ContentsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 193 |  |  |
| | | from | 193 | | |
Abstract
Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and aggressive malignancies worldwide and one of the main causes of cancer-related mortalit yglobally. Its incidence is increasing at alarming rates. The presence of cirrhosis is the major risk factor and this is largely due to chronic HCV and HBV infection. Aberrant hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes (RASSF1A) is one of the most frequent and early mechanisms involved in HCC development, so that it could help to select high-risk populations and thus to modulate the indications of screening procedures . Moreover, estimation of serum level of certain up regulated proteins as glypican-3 (GLP-3) in HCC could bea promising biomarker for screening and early HCC detection. Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has insufficient sensitivity and speci{uFB01}city for detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, RASSF1A gene and glypican-3 (GLP-3) were suggested as a new biomarkers for the detection HCC Objectives: To determine the role of serum GLP-3 levels in the diagnosis and to evaluate the frequency of tumor suppressor gene RASSF1A hypermethylation in whole blood from HCC patients Methods: The study included eightysubjects : 30 patients with HCC and elevated AFP. ; 30 of them with liver cirrhosis In addition, 20 healthy subjects were included as a control group. Clinical and radiological features (abdominal ultrasonography and/or abdominal triphasic computed tomography) were recorded. Liver function tests, complete blood cell count, and serum AFP were measured. Serum GLP-3 values were determined by an ELISA technique. Detection of promotor methylation status of RASSF1A using methylation specific PCR .Results: this study revealed that :Serum levels of GLP-3 were signi{uFB01}cantly elevated in patients with HCC compared with liver cirrhosis and control groups (p < 0.001). Also, serum GLP-3 levels with cut-off value of 2.72 ug/L, had a sensitivity (93.0%) and speci{uFB01}city (94%). The obtained results showed a significant RASSF1A promoter hypermethylation in hepatoma subjects that was 83.3% in comparison to healthy control subjects as well as in comparison to subjects with non hepatoma chronic liver disease