Clinical application of serum Golgi protein 73 in the diagnosis and progress of hepatocellular carcinoma

To explore the clinical application of serum GP73 in the diagnosis and progress of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was employed to quantitatively detect serum GP73 in 59 HCC patients, 23 cases of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related cirrhosis and 33 normal controls. The relationship between GP73 and diagnosis as well as progress of HCC was examined. Significant differences existed when serum GP73 was categorized by Child-Pugh class A and B (P < 0.01). There was no correlation between GP73 levels and other parameters including age, gender, BCLC staging, HBV infection, tumor size, extrahepatic metastasis and tumor numbers. The serum GP73 with a mean level of [127 (147) µg/L, M(QR)] in HCC patients was significantly higher than that in normal controls or those with HBV-liver cirrhosis (P < 0.01). Based on the ROC curve analysis, the cut-off value was 99 µg/L with 64.4% sensitivity and 96.4% specificity. The sensitivity of diagnosing HCC with GP73 plus AFP improved (P = 0.025) , but not in specificity.Serum GP73 and AFP did not change greatly in terms of response assessment in mRECIST from baseline to progressive disease (P = 0.959, P = 0.788).No correlation existed between baseline concentration of GP73 with AFP and time to progression (r = 0.119, P = 0.608; r = 0.142, P = 0.540) . GP73 may become a potential serum marker for diagnosing HCC. And a combination of AFP yields better outcomes. The exact relationship between mRECIST and GP73 as well as AFP shall be proved by large-scale clinical trials.