Shirai Y, Kawata S, Tamura S, Ito N, Tsushima H, Takaishi K, Kiso S, Matsuzawa Y
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
Cancer. 1994 May 1;73(9):2275-9. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(19940501)73:9<2275::aid-cncr2820730907>3.0.co;2-t.
Many kinds of human malignant tissue, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), were reported to overexpress transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) gene. However, little work has been done on the circulating TGF-beta 1 in patients with malignant tumors.
Plasma TGF-beta 1 levels in patients with HCC (n = 26) were compared with those in patients with chronic hepatitis (CH) (n = 12) and cirrhosis (n = 11) and in normal subjects (n = 20) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system after acid/ethanol extraction.
The patients with HCC had significantly higher plasma TGF-beta 1 levels (19.3 +/- 19.5 ng/ml; mean +/- standard deviation [SD]) than those in normal subjects (1.4 +/- 0.8 ng/ml) and in patients with CH (3.0 +/- 3.1 ng/ml) and cirrhosis (3.7 +/- 2.1 ng/ml) (P < 0.01). Plasma TGF-beta 1 concentrations in the patients with cirrhosis were also significantly higher than those in the normal subjects (P < 0.05). The extracted plasma TGF-beta 1 from the patients with HCC had biologic activity according to a growth inhibitory assay using mink lung epithelial cells. No significant correlation was found between the plasma TGF-beta 1 levels in the patients with HCC and serum alpha-fetoprotein levels. After successful treatment for HCC, the amount of plasma TGF-beta 1 significantly decreased from 22.6 plus or minus 16.7 ng/ml (mean +/- SD) to 10.2 plus or minus 6.5 ng/ml (P < 0.05).
We demonstrated higher levels of plasma TGF-beta 1 in the patients with HCC than those in patients with chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. Plasma TGF-beta 1 might be a candidate for a novel tumor marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.
据报道，多种人类恶性组织，包括肝细胞癌（HCC），均过度表达转化生长因子-β1（TGF-β1）基因。然而，关于恶性肿瘤患者循环中TGF-β1的研究较少。
采用酸/乙醇提取后，使用酶联免疫吸附测定系统，比较26例HCC患者、12例慢性肝炎（CH）患者、11例肝硬化患者及20例正常受试者的血浆TGF-β1水平。
HCC患者的血浆TGF-β1水平（19.3±19.5 ng/ml；均值±标准差[SD]）显著高于正常受试者（1.4±0.8 ng/ml）、CH患者（3.0±3.1 ng/ml）和肝硬化患者（3.7±2.1 ng/ml）（P<0.01）。肝硬化患者的血浆TGF-β1浓度也显著高于正常受试者（P<0.05）。根据使用貂肺上皮细胞的生长抑制试验，从HCC患者中提取的血浆TGF-β1具有生物活性。HCC患者的血浆TGF-β1水平与血清甲胎蛋白水平之间未发现显著相关性。HCC成功治疗后，血浆TGF-β1量从22.6±16.7 ng/ml（均值±SD）显著降至10.2±6.5 ng/ml（P<0.05）。
我们证明HCC患者的血浆TGF-β1水平高于慢性肝炎和肝硬化患者。血浆TGF-β1可能是肝细胞癌一种新型肿瘤标志物的候选物。
