GP73, a resident Golgi glycoprotein, is sensibility and specificity for hepatocellular carcinoma of diagnosis in a hepatitis B-endemic Asian population

Golgi protein-73 (GP73) is a newly identified candidate serum marker for HCC, but GP73 study now is lesser in Asian population. The aims of this study were to determine how GP73 is detected in the serum of healthy, hepatitis B, cirrhosis and HCC by western blotting and RT-PCR, and to establish the sensitivity and specificity of serum GP73 protein and RNA for diagnosing HCC. Serum GP73 was detected by western blotting and RT-PCR, and quantified by densitometric analysis. GP73 was measured in serum from 124 patients with various forms of liver. AFP was tested using commercially available electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. The median sGP73 in patients with HBV-related HCC was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than in healthy individuals and in patients with other diseases. When sGP73 protein was used to detect HBV-related HCC, it had a sensitivity of 77.4% and a specificity of 83.9%, at the optimal cut-off value of 7.4 relative units. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.89. GP73 RNA in patients with HBV-related HCC had a sensitivity of 87.1% and a specificity of 83.9% and AUROC of 0.92. AFP in patients with HCC had a sensitivity of 48.4% and a specificity of 96.8% and AUROC of 0.77. GP73 protein and RNA can be found in the serum of patients with HBV-related HCC obviously higher than of other liver diseases in Asian. GP73 was better than AFP for the diagnosis of HBV-related HCC. RT-PCR is a more sensitive and superior method of quantification than Western blot. Furthermore, our data need to be confirmed in larger cohorts of patients.