Clinical significance of urinary EGF levels in patients with various liver diseases

In order to evaluate the clinical significance of urinary EGF in liver diseases, urinary EGF levels were determined using radioimmunoassay in 89 patients with various liver diseases and 22 healthy controls. Urinary EGF levels in the recovery phase of acute hepatitis were found to be significantly higher than those in healthy controls. A significant inverse correlation was observed between urinary EGF and serum total bilirubin in patients with acute hepatitis. Urinary EGF levels in patients with acute hepatitis were elevated above normal range in the course of recovery from liver injury, while it was consistently low in a patient with fulminant hepatitis who died of hepatic failure, suggesting that urinary EGF levels might reflect liver regeneratrion. There was no significant difference between urinary EGF levels in patients with chronic liver diseases or hepatocellular carcinoma and those in healthy controls.