The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKAII), Glypican-3 (GP3), Cystatin B (CSTB), squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 (SCCA1) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as potential tumour markers for HCC in patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC) using imaging techniques (MSCT and MRI) as reference standards.
The clinical data published so far and reviewed in this article seemingly suggest that neither total serum SSCA or its isoform 1 (i.e., SCCA1) may be ready for the prime time for management of patients with HCC.
T357A variant has a significantly higher frequency in nonencapsulated tumors than wild type SCCA1 (p = 0.034).The SCCA1, 2 mRNA is effective for detecting HCC and could be potentially applied in HCC diagnosis.
Initially identified as a serological marker for advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the cervix, SCCA1 has also been found to be associated with other cancer types of epithelial or endodermal origins such as lung cancer, head and neck cancer, melanoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Furthermore, our data in this homogenous subset of patients- particularly that confirming no role for SCCA-1 - suggests that the choice of optimal biomarkers for HCC surveillance may be determined by the aetiology of underlying chronic liver disease.