Evaluation of serum levels and significance of soluable CD40 ligand in screening patients with hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

The study's objective was to evaluate the clinical significance of sCD40L in HCV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCV-HCC) patients. Sera concentration of circulating sCD40L and IL-10 were assayed using ELISA in 30 HCVpositive patients with HCC, 30 HCV-positive patients with liver cirrhosis and 30 age-matched healthy volunteers with negative anti-HCV-Ab as a control group. Serum sCD40Lshowed statistically-significant high levels in HCV-HCC patients compared to HCV-cirrhotic patients and normal controls (P < 0.001). Serum sCD40L had higher diagnostic value in HCC patients compared with serum AFP. High sensitivity and specificity of sCD40L was observed compared to AFP (90%, 86.7% and 83% and 80% respectively). Significant positive correlation was detected between serum sCD40L and IL-10(r = 0.85 P < 0.001), AFP (r = 0.62 P < 0.05) and tumour staging (r = 0.5 P < 0.05). The study concluded that sCD40L is a valuable diagnostic tool in early diagnosis and screening for HCV and HCC as well as routine follow up of HCV cirrhosis patients. Assessment of serum IL-10 levels in HCV patients may provide a possible predictive marker for disease progression.

Evaluation of serum interleukin-10 levels in hepatocellular carcinoma patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The characteristics of the studies included in the meta-analysis are shown in Table 1 . Three studies were reported from Japan [ 6 , 11 , 12 ], one from Korea [ 1 ], one from Taiwan [ 9 ], one from China [ 13 ], and three from Egypt [ 14 - 16 ]. Altogether the studies included 373 HCC patients, 215 healthy controls, 132 cirrhotic patients and 92 patients with hepatitis.…”

“…IL-10 is known as a pleiotropic cytokine with dual roles in the immune system, including immune suppression and immune stimulation [ 17 ]. Many studies have reported that serum IL-10 levels were higher in the HCC patients than in the healthy controls [ 1 , 6 , 9 , 11 - 16 , 18 ] and that a higher IL-10 level was associated with worse prognosis [ 19 ]. Increased levels of IL-10 have been described as a negative prognostic indicator for survival in patients with various types of cancer [ 9 , 18 , 20 , 21 ].…”

“…The authors concluded that the IL-10 level offers additional prognostic value to the existing tumor staging systems [ 30 ]. Many studies have reported that serum IL-10 levels were higher in HCC patients than in cirrhotic patients [ 6 , 11 , 14 - 16 ], but one study had opposite results [ 12 ]. IL-10 was correlated with alanine transaminase (ALT) when analyzed in all the patients, but it was correlated with HBV-DNA in chronic hepatitis and in liver cirrhosis [ 12 ].…”

The Prospect and Challenges to the Flow of Liquid Biopsy in Africa

“…Numerous studies have evaluated the use of protein biomarkers in African populations; with some aiming at the discovery of novel protein biomarkers [184,185,186,187,188,189,190,191,192,193,194,195,196,197,198,199,200]. A study by Adeola, et al [15] identified 73 urinary proteins as potential biomarkers for prostate cancer in the South African population.…”

New prognostic biomarkers of mortality in patients undergoing liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection[ 76 ], cirrhosis[ 77 ], and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have been shown to exhibit higher circulating sCD40L levels than control subjects[ 78 ]. Furthermore, high circulating sCD40L levels are associated with a poor prognosis in HCC patients[ 79 ].…”