Department of Bioanalysis and Drugs Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Warsaw, 1 Banacha Street, Warsaw PL-02097, Poland.
Diagn Pathol. 2012 Feb 18;7:17. doi: 10.1186/1746-1596-7-17.
An increasing number of publications are suggesting that galectin-3 (Gal-3) and soluble cadherin fragments, such as E-cadherin (sE-CAD) and N-cadherin (sN-CAD), may be considered as cancer markers. Despite the promising results of the studies, there are no data concerning their levels in the plasma of echinococcosis patients. In most cases, echinoccocosis affects the liver, and its symptoms and disease course are very similar to those of liver cancer. The aim of the present study was to observe whether echinococcosis affects the concentration of soluble sN-CAD, sE-CAD fragments and Gal-3 in plasma and to determine which of them could be considered reliable liver cancer markers for further research.
The concentrations of sN-CAD, sE-CAD and Gal-3 in the EDTA plasma of patients suffering from echinococcosis (N = 20), liver cancers (N = 10) and healthy subjects (N = 20) were measured using the ELISA method.
The plasma concentration of sE-CAD was lower (p = 0.0381), and that of Gal-3 higher (p = 0.0288), in echinococcosis than in the healthy group. However, only the concentration of sE-CAD differed significantly among the three analysed groups. In echinococcosis there was a correlation between the sE-CAD and CRP levels (rs = 0.79; p = 0.0066) as well as a correlation between the sE-CAD level and the number of leukocytes (rs = 0.65; p = 0.0210) in the blood.
Echinococcosis affects the concentration of soluble sE-CAD fragments and Gal-3 in plasma. sE-CAD can be considered as a marker for differentiation between liver cancer and echinoccocossis, a parasitic liver disease similar in symptoms. Further study is required to confirm these preliminary results.
The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here:http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/2115657402650448.
越来越多的出版物表明，半乳糖凝集素-3（Gal-3）和可溶性钙黏蛋白片段，如 E-钙黏蛋白（sE-CAD）和 N-钙黏蛋白（sN-CAD），可被视为癌症标志物。尽管这些研究的结果很有前景，但关于棘球蚴病患者血浆中这些标志物水平的研究尚无数据。在大多数情况下，棘球蚴病会影响肝脏，其症状和病程与肝癌非常相似。本研究旨在观察棘球蚴病是否会影响血浆中可溶性 sN-CAD、sE-CAD 片段和 Gal-3 的浓度，并确定其中哪些可作为进一步研究的可靠肝癌标志物。
采用 ELISA 法检测 20 例棘球蚴病患者、10 例肝癌患者和 20 例健康对照者 EDTA 血浆中 sN-CAD、sE-CAD 和 Gal-3 的浓度。
棘球蚴病患者血浆 sE-CAD 浓度较低（p=0.0381），Gal-3 浓度较高（p=0.0288）。然而，仅 sE-CAD 浓度在三组分析对象中存在显著差异。棘球蚴病患者中，sE-CAD 与 CRP 水平呈正相关（rs=0.79，p=0.0066），sE-CAD 水平与白细胞计数呈正相关（rs=0.65，p=0.0210）。
棘球蚴病影响血浆中可溶性 sE-CAD 片段和 Gal-3 的浓度。sE-CAD 可作为区分肝癌和棘球蚴病的标志物，棘球蚴病是一种症状相似的寄生虫性肝病。需要进一步研究来证实这些初步结果。
