Feng Lu-Huai, Wei Lu, Hu Bobin, Liang Hengkai, Li Qingmei, Yin Qianbing, Su Tumei, Huang Long, Liang Hongqian, Jiang Jianning, Su Minghua
Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
Key Laboratory of Early Prevention and Treatment of Regional High Incidence Tumors (Guangxi Medical University), Ministry of Education, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
Front Oncol. 2025 Apr 3;15:1574317. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1574317. eCollection 2025.
To evaluate the reliability of serum human phosphorylated exospindle polar-like proteinase 1 (ESPL1) as a serum biomarker for early diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HCC).
This retrospective study was conducted on 266 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC), and HBV-related HCC. Data on demographics and clinical information were collected, and ESPL1 levels were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Levels of ESPL1, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and protein induced by vitamin K absence -II (PIVKA-II) were compared at different disease stages, and spearman correlation analysis was used to assess their relationship with clinical markers. The diagnostic accuracy of ESPL1, AFP, and PIVKA-II for early HBV- HCC was assessed using ROC curve analysis.
The study comprised 121 patients diagnosed with CHB, 98 patients with LC, and 47 patients with HBV-HCC. Serum ESPL1 levels show an increasing trend across groups with chronic HBV infection, CHB, LC, and HBV-HCC, with levels at 224.6 ng/L, 285.8 ng/L, and 440.4 ng/L (in pairwise comparison, <0.05). Serum AFP and PIVKA-II levels displayed no significant statistical differences between the CHB and LC groups. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that levels of ESPL1, PIVKA-II, and AFP are not influenced by clinical characteristics and show no correlation with each other. ROC curve analysis indicated that the optimal diagnostic threshold for ESPL1 in HBV-HCC is 345.7 ng/L, with AUC values for ESPL1, PIVKA-II, and AFP being 0.797 (95% CI: [0.708-0.886]), 0.788 (95% CI: [0.718-0.858]), and 0.572 (95% CI: [0.523-0.624]). In AFP and PIVKA-II negative patients, the AUC values for ESPL1 diagnosis of HBV-HCC were 0.79 and 0.83.
ESPL1 is a potential biomarker for tracking chronic HBV infection and predicting the development of HBV-HCC. Monitoring ESPL1 levels in serum could help with early detection and personalized screening HBV-HCC for individuals with chronic HBV infection.
评估血清人磷酸化纺锤体极样蛋白酶1（ESPL1）作为乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）相关肝细胞癌（HBV-HCC）早期诊断血清生物标志物的可靠性。
对266例慢性乙型肝炎（CHB）、肝硬化（LC）和HBV相关HCC患者进行了这项回顾性研究。收集了人口统计学和临床信息数据，并采用酶联免疫吸附测定法测量ESPL1水平。比较了不同疾病阶段ESPL1、甲胎蛋白（AFP）和维生素K缺乏诱导蛋白-II（PIVKA-II）的水平，并采用Spearman相关性分析评估它们与临床指标的关系。采用ROC曲线分析评估ESPL1、AFP和PIVKA-II对早期HBV-HCC的诊断准确性。
该研究包括121例诊断为CHB的患者、98例LC患者和47例HBV-HCC患者。血清ESPL1水平在慢性HBV感染、CHB、LC和HBV-HCC各组中呈上升趋势，水平分别为224.6 ng/L、285.8 ng/L和440.4 ng/L（两两比较，P<0.05）。CHB组和LC组之间血清AFP和PIVKA-II水平无显著统计学差异。Spearman相关性分析显示，ESPL1、PIVKA-II和AFP水平不受临床特征影响，且彼此之间无相关性。ROC曲线分析表明，ESPL1在HBV-HCC中的最佳诊断阈值为345.7 ng/L，ESPL1、PIVKA-II和AFP的AUC值分别为0.797（95%CI：[0.708-0.886]）、0.788（95%CI：[0.718-0.858]）和0.572（95%CI：[0.523-0.624]）。在AFP和PIVKA-II阴性患者中，ESPL1诊断HBV-HCC的AUC值分别为0.79和0.83。
ESPL1是追踪慢性HBV感染和预测HBV-HCC发生发展的潜在生物标志物。监测血清ESPL1水平有助于对慢性HBV感染个体进行HBV-HCC的早期检测和个性化筛查。
