Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several large studies have established the usefulness of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) detection as a diagnostic test in patients suspected of having primary hepatoma. in the current study, 65% of patients from Hong Kong and 50% of eastern U.S. patients with hepatocellular carcinoma had AFP in their sera. AFP was not found in normal adult sera in any of the reported series. In this series, AFP was not detected in sera of patients with other hepatic diseases, often associated with AFP occurrence, or in sera of 6 patients with embryonal cell carcinoma of the testis though that disease has also been associated with AFP detection in sera. However, the occurrence of AFP in various tissue extracts was detected in 1/2 extracts of primary hepatoma and in 2/6 extracts of embryonal cell carcinoma of the testis, but not in other tumors. The hepatoma extract containing AFP was from a patient with AFP in serum; the serum from the other patients with hepatoma was negative. Sera from the patients with testicular cancer were not available for testing. Theories on the function of AFP and its relationship to carcinogenesis are also discussed.
 ...
PMID:Alpha-fetoprotein: occurrence in certain malignant diseases and review of clinical applications. 419 53

Human alpha fetoprotein (AFP) has been detected by the agar double diffusion method in ascitic fluid, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and bile, from fetuses, neonates and patients with AFP seropositive hepatocellular carcinoma. AFP was detected in the meconium and faeces of fetuses and neonates respectively. The protein was not detected in the amniotic fluid nor the pericardial fluid. It was found in the urine in only two fetuses that had concomittant renal disease. It was not detected in breast milk of lactating females. When metastases occurred in the lung from a hepatocellular carcinoma producing AFP, the pleural effusions sometimes contained AFP. The concentrations of AFP in the serum and in the other body fluids were about the same. This indicates that other body fluids can be used for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.
 ...
PMID:Human alpha fetoprotein in body fluids. 432 51

A human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (FOCUS--Friendship of China and United States) was derived from a patient with primary hepatocellular carcinoma. This cell line has been in continuous culture over an 18-mo period. The morphological and ultrastructural features of FOCUS are consistent with its neoplastic hepatocellular origin. FOCUS cells contain aspartate aminotransferase and glucose-6-phosphatase activity. In addition, alpha 1-antitrypsin, fibrinogen, alpha fetoprotein, and carcinoembryonic antigens were detectable in the cytoplasm of the cultured cells by immunochemical staining techniques. The karyotype of the FOCUS cell is human in origin and its contains human DNA sequences as detected by molecular hybridization analysis. The FOCUS cells do not show evidence of density-dependent inhibition of growth under confluent conditions. Repeated growth curves over an 18-mo period were identical, revealing a doubling time of 42 to 48 h. The malignant potential of FOCUS cells was further demonstrated by their ability to lead to gross tumor formation after subcutaneous injection into nude mice. From one of the solid tumors grown in nude mice, recultured cell lines have been established and found to have properties identical to the original FOCUS cell line. This FOCUS cell line represents an additional model for further investigation of tumor specific antigens and the relationship between hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatocellular carcinoma. Preliminary molecular characterization has indicated the existence of integrated HBV sequences within the FOCUS genome.
 ...
PMID:Establishment and characterization of a new human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. 608 98

A physician's personal series of 10 women treated from 1970-1979 for oral contraceptive-associated liver tumors is presented. Of the 10 women treated, 7 had hepatocellular carcinoma and 3 had benign adenomas. Symptomatology is described. Problems with diagnosis of liver dysfunctions included misleading biopsies and liver scans. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was raised in all but 1 woman, and it was above 70 mm/h in 7. Changes in liver function tests were consistent with an intrahepatic tumor, with a striking increase in alkaline phosphatase in 9 (1170 IU/ml), and with only a slight rise in serum aspartate transaminase (mean 55 IU/ml). None of the patients had alpha fetoprotein levels above the upper limit of normal, and all patients were negative for hepatitis B surface antigen and antibody and anticore antibody. The carcinoma characteristics were similar in 7 patients (irregular trabecular arrangement with basophilic and dysplastic cells with nuclear pleomorphism and increased mitotic figures). When these oral contraceptive users were compared with 7 women diagnosed with hepatocellular tumors who had never used oral contraceptives, several striking differences were found. None of the poll users with carcinoma had raised alpha fetoproteins, whereas 4/7 nonpill users did. By arteriography, tumors in nonusers were much less vascular and less well defined. Survival rates also differed, with a 50% survival time of 1-8 years in nonusers compared with 4-8 years in pill users. The striking feature of this series is the delay in reaching a diagnosis in most of the 10 cases treated.
 ...
PMID:Oral-contraceptive-associated liver tumours: occurrence of malignancy and difficulties in diagnosis. 610 35

A 21-year-old woman presented with a 12-month history of epigastric pain, and for 3 months she had noticed a mass in the right hypochondrium. She had taken 'Norinyl-1' (norethisterone 1 mg and mestranol 50 mcg) for 5 years. She smoked 20 cigarettes a day but drank little alcohol. Physical examination revealed irregular hard hepatomegaly 10 cm below the right costal margin. Hepatitis B surface antigen was not detected in the serum and alpha fetoprotein levels were normal ( 10 M.R.C. units). A liver scan showed a large space-occupying lesion in the right lobe of the liver, and liver biopsy revealed a cholangicarcinoma with striking fibrous reaction. Multiple shadows consistent with metastases were present on chest X-ray, but no bony deposits were found on radiological skeletal survey or bone scan. The serum calcium was persistently high (2.74-2.92 mmol/l) but fell on prednisolone therapy. Serum parathyroid hormone levels were normal. A causal relation between oral contraceptives and hepatic adenoma is now generally accepted, and several patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have also been reported. We have been able to find only 1 previous report of cholangiocarcinoma in a young female taking oral contraceptives, and there is 1 report of this tumor in a man taking high doses of anabolic steroids for refractory anemia. This tumor has its peak incidence in the 6th decade and is very rare in the 3rd decade. The association with hypercalcemia due to pseudohyperparathyroidism is well recognized. In only some cases are parathyroid hormone levels raised, and the cause of the pseudohypercalcemia in our patient is unknown.
 ...
PMID:Cholangiocarcinoma and oral contraceptives. 610 61

The behaviour of alpha 1 antitrypsin in 76 subjects with cirrhosis of the liver, 14 subjects with chronic persistent hepatitis, 14 subjects with chronic active hepatitis, 8 subjects with toxic hepatitis, 5 subjects with obstructive jaundice, 5 subjects with liver carcinoma. 4 of these groups (cirrhosis, chronic active hepatitis, obstructive jaundice, hepatoma) showed alpha 1 antitrypsin blood levels significantly higher than the control group (82 healthy subjects). Very high alpha 1 antitrypsin blood levels, significantly greater than in cirrhosis, were found in the patients with hepatoma. All these subjects also showed blood levels of alpha fetoprotein higher than 100 ng/ml. The diagnostic meaning of these finding was considered.
 ...
PMID:[Behavior of serum alpha 1-antitrypsin in chronic hepatopathies and its diagnostic significance]. 616 21

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) derived from amniotic fluid and both maternal and umbilical cord sera but not from hepatoma, blocks the binding of serum acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody from patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and animals with experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG) to AChR preparations as measured by a radioimmunoassay. AFP also inhibits the AChR and mitogen induced in vitro proliferative response of lymphocytes obtained from animals with EAMG. Laboratory animals repeatedly injected with AFP fail to develop EAMG in response to sensitization with AChR. Animals with established EAMG show clinical improvement in response to AFP treatment. AChR antibodies are suppressed in such AFP-treated animals. AFP is present in increased amounts during pregnancy and thus could contribute to remissions during the second half of pregnancy in patients with MG. The rapid decrease in levels of AFP during the post-partum period may also be partly responsible for relapses seen during this period. AFP may also be responsible for the appearance of transitory neonatal MG only sometime after birth and in only a minority of cases.
 ...
PMID:Influence of alpha-fetoprotein on the in vitro and in vivo immune response to acetylcholine receptor. 617 66

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GT) were determined in three groups of patients: 21 with primary liver carcinoma (PLC), 106 with metastatic liver disease, and 110 with various degrees of alcoholic liver diseases. AFP was elevated in 12 out of 14 with hepatocellular carcinoma but in none of 7 with cholangiocarcinoma. CEA was elevated in 8 of 14 with hepatocellular carcinoma and in 5 of 7 with cholangiocarcinoma. In metastatic liver disease, 83% had elevated CEA greater than or equal to 5.0 micrograms/l, 50% having CEA levels greater than 20 micrograms/l. AFP was moderately elevated in 26% of the patients, the values being less than 100 micrograms/l in all but one. In patients with alcoholic liver disease, 31% had elevated CEA levels greater than or equal to 5.0 micrograms/l; one of these had an extremely high value of 245 micrograms/l. AFP was moderately elevated to less than 100 micrograms/l in only 9%. CEA is a sensitive indicator of metastases: a value above 20 micrograms/l is almost always associated with malignancy. However, the presence of alcoholic liver diseases must be considered in evaluating patients with increased CEA levels. AFP and CEA seemed to be of value in differentiation between primary and secondary liver carcinoma. ALP and GT are also relatively sensitive indicators of malignant liver disease, but they are more unspecific than AFP and CEA.
 ...
PMID:Alpha-fetoprotein and carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with primary liver carcinoma, metastatic liver disease, and alcoholic liver disease. 618 10

Benign liver tumors are relatively uncommon and, even when large enough to be symptomatic, they usually remain undiagnosed prior to exploratory laparotomy. Hemangiomas constitute the majority of benign hepatic neoplasms and are 9 times as frequent in females as in males. Most are asymptomatic but abdominal swelling, a mass, or symptoms due to compression of adjacent organs may occur and abdominal hemorrhage is reported in 4.5% of patients. Hepatic hemangioma may produce a large arteriovenous communication serious enough to cause heart failure. Recently an increased frequency of liver tumors, mostly adenomas, has been noted in women taking oral contraceptives (OCs); the cause has been attributed to estrogens. The exact incidence is unknown but believed to be low. It is most common in women in their late 20s who have been on OCs for 7 years or more. The tumor occasionally completely regresses on withdrawal of the OCs. The tumor may be discovered incidentally at laparotomy or may manifest inself by pain, a palpable mass, or catastrophic hemoperitoneum. Hepatic adenoma is usually a solitary lesion and infrequently degenerates into malignancy. Differential diagnosis includes chronic gall bladder disease and peptic ulcer. Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is apparently much less frequently related to OC use and is less likely to bleed seriously than adenoma. Hepatic chemistry is usually normal in adenoma and FNH, but slight increases in serum bilirubin, serum alkaline phosphatase, and serum transaminase may occur. Primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma or hepatoma) is mostly a disease of males and in the US and Western Europe seldom develops before age 40. Fibrolamellar carcinoma, which characteristically develops in adolescents and young adults, occurs with equal sex incidence. Doubt has been expressed about its relationship to OCs. In the US about 75% of primary hepatocellular carcinomas are associated with cirrhosis, and about 5% of cirrhosis cases develop primary liver cancer. Clinical manifestations of hepatoma have been divided into 5 groups: frank cancer (62.7%), acute abdominal cancer (8%), febrile cancer (8%), occult cancer (16%), and metastatic cancer (5%). Detection of large amounts of alpha fetoprotein has proven useful in diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, but values may be negative in OC users. It has been estimated that 1/3 to 1/2 of all malignant tumors eventually metastasize to the liver.
 ...
PMID:Hepatic neoplasia: selected clinical aspects. 619 95

In most cases, primary liver carcinoma in tropical areas remains an hepatoma. The high incidence of this malignant tumor of the liver in some regions, and especially in black Africa, is still unexplained. As compared with the form found either in the European or in the North-African, this hepatoma shows special features since it occurs in younger people (35 years), follows a bursting-out course and is precipitously associated not to an alcoholic cirrhosis but to a post-hepatitic one. An humoral syndrome leading to a presomptive diagnosis consists of hypoglycemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperlipemia, and high blood level of alcaline phosphatases. In 85% of the cases, these tumors secrete an alpha fetoprotein determined by radioimmunoassay. A major etiologic factor is the oncogenous activity of hepatitis virus B which could be either an induction factor or a "co-factor" which would initiate, facilitate or increase the activity of the carcinogen. In this respect, aflatoxin has to be regarded as a "co-factor" too. The best treatment, when it is possible, is an exeresis carried out through a partial hepatectomy. If such a surgical intervention is unadvisable, chemotherapy is the only possibility. Immunization against viral hepatitis has raised hope for the prophylaxis of hepatoma. But it will not be possible to evaluate it before the year 2.000.
 ...
PMID:[Primary liver cancer in the tropical environment. Classical and current data]. 619 92


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>