الفهرس 
HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMAOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
H
epatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major unresolved medical issue, which is considered as the seventh most common cancer globally and the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths, with approximately 700,000 deaths per year
Early detection of HCC in high risk subjects (hepatitis and cirrhosis) could improve their clinical outcomes and, indeed, many lives can be saved by effective treatments such as hepatectomy and local radiofrequency ablation therapies when the tumors are still small.
Serum concentrations of AFP have been shown to be the most useful tumor marker with regards to HCC but levels may be normal in up to 40% of patients, reducing its sensitivity. Moreover, it may be increased in patients with hepatitis and cirrhosis, compromising its specificity.
Vimentin is classified as a type III intermediate filament (IF) protein. Its function is to maintain cellular integrity and protect the cell against stress. It is the major cytoskeletal component of mesenchymal cells. It also plays a significant role in cell shape maintenance and in stabilizing cytoskeletal interactions.
Vimentin also plays a significant role in cell shape maintenance and in stabilizing cytoskeletal interactions. Its overexpression has been found in various cancers, including prostate cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, CNS tumors, breast cancer, and malignant melanoma.
The aim of this study; to evaluate the role of serum vimentin as a diagnostic biomarker in patients with HCC.
This case control study enrolled 60 patients; divided into two groups: group (I): included 20 patients with liver cirrhosis without HCC as a control group and group (II): 20 patients divided into 2 subgroups: (IIa): includes 20 patients with HCC and serum AFP is high and (IIb): includes 20 patients with HCC and serum AFP is normal.
The majority of our patients were males (n17; 85.0% n18; 90.0%) for subgroups IIa and IIb respectively with no statistically significant difference with control group.
The present study found statistical significant decrease in Hb level in group IIb compared to group I, there was high statistical significant decrease in platelet count in patients of group IIa and IIb compared to control group. a statistical significant elevation of total bilirubin and INR with decrease of albumin in group II compared to control group.
There was high statistical significant elevation in AFP in group IIa and IIb compared to control group and in group IIa compared to group IIb, a high statistical significant elevation in Vimentin level in group IIa and IIb compared to control group while there was no statistical significant difference between group IIa and group IIb.
Compering between vimentin and AFP as predictors of HCC ROC curve figure demonstrate that,. Cut off point of serum vimentin to detect HCC presence is >702 ng/mL and that for AFP is >3.1 ng/mL. The sensitivity of s. Vimentin is 85% ,the specificity is 95%, PPV is 94.4% and NPV is 86.36% while The sensitivity of s. AFP is 70%, the specificity is 85%, PPV is 82.35% and NPV is 73.91%.