Clinical investigation on the aminoterminal peptide of type III procollagen in the sera of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

The serum Type III procollagen N-peptide (PC-III-NP) concentration was determined by radioimmunoassay in various liver diseases, especially primary biliary cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. PC (III) NP was 6.6±2.6ng/ml in normal subjects. In acute hepatitis, it was high (34.1 ±11.7ng/ml) in the acute phase, but tended to retum normal (15.6±4.0ng/ml) in the convalescent stage. In chronic liver diseases, it better reflected the fibrotic activity rather than the degree of fibrotic change. In primary biliary cirrhosis, it was significantly high (35.5±24.3ng/ml) and tended to increase with pathological progression, suggesting disturbed secreation of PC (III) NP into bile in association with PC (III) NP elevation. In hepatocellular carcinoma, it was significantly high (40.6±43.1ng/ml) without a correlation with serum AFP or Ferritin concentration. However, a tendency to increase with the growth of the tumor area suggested the possibility of the production of Type III collagen within the tumor, but the value above 60ng/ml seemed required to justify the use of PC (III) NP as a tumor marker.