Abstract
In this article, we present a study on the levels of epidermal growth factor (EGF), its phosphorylated receptor (p-EGFR) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in the sera of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection. The results reveal significant higher serum levels of EGF and TGF-β1 in patients with HCC compared to their level in patients with CHC infection and control subjects. The levels of p-EGFR in HCC and CHC patients show a highly significant difference between patients. Based on the best cutoff value of 914 pg/ml, EGF shows 63.3 % sensitivity and 87.5 % specificity for HCC patients where the area under the curve is 0.81. The p-EGFR shows sensitivity of 63.3 % and specificity of 100 % where the area under the curve is 0.87 for HCC patients based on the best cutoff value of 39 U/mg protein. The best cutoff value (370 pg/ml) for serum TGF-β1 displays sensitivity of 86.7 % and specificity of 100 %, where the area under the curve is 0.97 for HCC patients.
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Abbreviations
- HCC:
-
Hepatocellular carcinoma
- CHC:
-
Chronic hepatitis C
- EGF:
-
Epidermal growth factor
- p-EGFR:
-
Phosphorylated epidermal growth factor receptor
- TGF-β1:
-
Transforming growth factor-β1
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The authors thank the technical staff of Oncology Diagnostic unit, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Egypt.
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The present study has no conflict of interest.
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Shehata, F., Abdel Monem, N., Sakr, M. et al. Epidermal growth factor, its receptor and transforming growth factor-β1 in the diagnosis of HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma. Med Oncol 30, 673 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-013-0673-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-013-0673-x