Yao D F, Huang Z W, Chen S Z, Huang J F, Lu J X, Xiao M B, Meng X Y
Research Center of Clinical Molecular Biology, Affiliated Hospital, Nantong Medical College, Jiangsu Province, China.
Am J Clin Pathol. 1998 Dec;110(6):743-9. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/110.6.743.
Tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can express hepatoma-specific gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and secrete GGT into circulating blood. Serum GGT was separated into several bands (up to 11), including hepatoma-specific bands (HSBs, I', II, and II') by a vertical slab electrophoresis assay of polyacrylamide stage gradient gel. In the present study, the HSBs of serum GGT were separated, and the HSB activity was quantitatively measured in 91 patients with HCC and compared with that of 106 patients with benign liver disease, 16 patients with extrahepatic tumors, and 30 healthy control subjects. Significant differences of the HSB activity were observed between the HCC group and each study group. An HSB activity greater than 5.5 U/L seems to be diagnostic of HCC. The quantitative method has a sensitivity of 85.3%, a specificity of 97.2%, a positive predictive value of 95.1%, a negative predictive value of 91.2%, and an accuracy of 92.5% for detecting HCC. No correlation was found between HSB activity and the serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level or tumor size in patients with HCC. The quantitative analysis of HSB activity of GGT is superior to detection of the AFP concentration and is useful in early diagnosis of small HCC or AFP-negative HCC.
肝细胞癌（HCC）组织可表达肝癌特异性γ-谷氨酰转移酶（GGT）并将其分泌到循环血液中。通过聚丙烯酰胺阶段梯度凝胶垂直平板电泳分析，血清GGT被分离成几条带（最多11条），包括肝癌特异性带（HSBs，I'、II和II'）。在本研究中，分离了血清GGT的HSBs，并对91例HCC患者的HSB活性进行了定量测定，并与106例良性肝病患者、16例肝外肿瘤患者和30例健康对照者进行了比较。HCC组与各研究组之间观察到HSB活性存在显著差异。HSB活性大于5.5 U/L似乎可诊断为HCC。该定量方法检测HCC的灵敏度为85.3%，特异性为97.2%，阳性预测值为95.1%，阴性预测值为91.2%，准确率为92.5%。未发现HCC患者的HSB活性与血清甲胎蛋白（AFP）水平或肿瘤大小之间存在相关性。GGT的HSB活性定量分析优于AFP浓度检测，有助于小HCC或AFP阴性HCC的早期诊断。
