Steroid hormone profiles plus α-fetoprotein for diagnosing primary liver cancer by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Background: Primary liver cancer (PLC) is one of the most common malignant tumors world-wide but its pathogenesis is unclear. We suggest that steroid hormones may offer diagnostic information for PLC. Methods: Using liquid chromatography (UPLC) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS), we quantified 7 endogenous steroids in 66 PLC human serum samples, 59 liver cirrhosis (LC) samples, and 65 healthy volunteers (HV). Data were assessed chemometrically and with Mann-Whitney U tests and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Results: For PLC patients, androgens were low and estrogen was high. PLS-DA analysis discriminated between healthy subjects and cancer patients using (estrone + estradiol)/testosterone ratios. Moreover, cirrhosis patients were also distinguished with receiver operating characteristic curves indicating the specificity and sensitivity of our current approach. Conclusions: Steroid hormone profiling by UPLC-MS/MS may be promising for early diagnosis of PLC but investigations with more patients and steroids are required to confirm the utility of these biomarkers for clinical applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.