الفهرس 
Viral HepatitisOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver malignancy and the third cause of cancer-related death worldwide. The causes of HCC have been attributed to several biological (e.g. hepatitis B and C virus infection) and environmental factors (e.g. aflatoxin, AF). Other factors such as cigarette smoking, occupational exposure to chemicals such as pesticides and endemic infections in the community, such as schistosomiasis, may have additional roles in the etiology or progression of the disease.
Measuring tumor biomarkers levels for HCC is an important tool for disease management. Tumor markers could be helpful along the continuum of care for patients with HCC; however, there is insufficient data for routine use of most current biomarkers in clinical practice. Alpha fetoprotein is the best studied of all biomarkers, but it has low specificity and unsatisfactory sensitivity in the diagnosis of early HCC. So there is need for supplementary markers for AFP to increase the sensitivity in early diagnosis of HCC as well as the specificity in differentiation between HCC and benign lesions. Several other biomarkers, including AFP-L3, DCP, and GPC3 are also being evaluated for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma
The aim of the present study is to investigate the clinical utility of GPC3 quantitated by ELISA in peripheral blood of an adequate number of HCC patients as well as evaluating its sensitivity and specificity and compare results of AFP, AFP-L3 and GPC3 in serum of normal individuals, compensated cirrhotic and HCC patients.