Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0345904 (liver cancer)
 15,188 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The present paper describes the present status of clinical tests for cancer in Japan. Since no cancer-specific substance has been found so far the clinical tests for cancer at present are always quantitative but not qualitative. Among these substances, alpha-fetoprotein is one of the most specific substances for cancer and its test is essential for diagnosis of hepatoma beins used worldwide. AFP is a specific product of liver cancer cells. The measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen in patient blood is a hopeful method for cancer diagnosis. This substance is not specifically produced by cancer cells, but the phenomenon of appearance in bloodstream appears to be cancer-specific. This may reflect the invasion of blood vessels in tissues such as colorectum, lung, etc., by infiltration of cancer cell. This is the reason for the appearance of CEA in a wide variety of cancers. There are many other clinical tests at present but these are only secondary aids for the diagnosis of cancer. This is the reason why the description concentrates mostly on AFP and CEA. The companies manufacturing the kits for these tests in Japan are also listed in this paper.
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PMID:The development of laboratory tests for cancer in Japan with special reference to carcinoembryonic proteins. 7 74

One-hundred and thirty-three consecutive ascitic patients hospitalized in our Liver Unit were prospectively investigated, to define the accuracy of ascitic fluid analysis in identifying malignancy. Patients with extrahepatic cancer and peritoneal carcinomatosis were characterized by positive cytology and higher ascitic levels of fibronectin, lactic dehydrogenase, carcinoembryonic antigen, and total protein than both patients with uncomplicated cirrhosis and patients with cirrhosis and liver cancer. Ascitic cytology, fibronectin, and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) were the most sensitive and specific markers of extrahepatic malignancy. In contrast, none of these markers was useful in identifying patients with primary liver cancer complicating cirrhosis. For them, the only alteration of the ascitic fluid was an elevated alpha-fetoprotein concentration. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ascitic alpha-fetoprotein for detecting liver cancer were 87%, 95%, and 94%, respectively. Combining cytology with the determinations of fibronectin (or LDH) and alpha-fetoprotein in ascitic fluid satisfactorily differentiated 28 of 32 cases of malignancy-related ascites, with very low incidence of false-positives (4-6%). Therefore, in view of the frequent difficulties in detecting liver cancer as a complication of cirrhosis in patients with ascites, it is advisable to determine all these three markers in the same ascitic sample.
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PMID:Utility of ascitic fluid analysis in patients with malignancy-related ascites. 169 Sep 13

The serum levels of tumour marker CA 125 were measured in 162 patients with various digestive tract malignancies and in 155 patients with benign digestive tract diseases. The highest frequency of elevated CA 125 values (greater than 35 U ml-1) was found in patients with liver cancer (78%), but the level was equally often elevated in liver cirrhosis (78%). Two-thirds of the patients with biliary tract cancer had an increased CA 125 concentration, while four patients with benign biliary diseases had an elevated value. The serum level of CA 125 was elevated in only 20% of 60 patients with primary colorectal cancer, and in none of those with local disease (Dukes A or B). The CA 125 concentration seldom increased in patients with recurrent colorectal carcinoma. Twenty-three per cent of 44 patients with gastric cancer had an elevated CA 125 value. Two of 33 patients with benign colorectal and one of 68 patients with benign gastric diseases had an increased CA 125 concentration. The serum values of CA 125 showed no correlation with those of tumour markers alphafetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) or CA 19-9. AFP was superior to the other markers in the diagnosis of liver diseases, while CA 19-9 showed the greatest accuracy in gastric diseases. In colorectal diseases, CEA had a higher sensitivity, but a lower specificity than CA 125 and CA 19-9. CA 125 and CA 19-9 had similar sensitivities for biliary tract cancer.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Tumour marker CA 125 in patients with digestive tract malignancies. 171 1

Pathological diagnosis of hepatic tumors is sometimes difficult when performed with only routine examinations such as Hematoxylin and Eosin (H.E.) stain. The diagnostic usefulness of KM01 was compared to that of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA19-9 and ras p21 in this immunohistochemical study. AFP was positive in about half of the cases of hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatoblastoma, and AFP-positive cells were frequently found at the periphery of acini in both diseases. Absorbed CEA stain was mostly negative in hepatocellular carcinoma, but was positive in the cells of mixed hepatocellular and cholangiocellular carcinoma (MHCC) and metastatic liver cancer, especially in their cytoplasm. CA19-9 immunostaining was completely negative, and was only 3% positive in hepatocellular carcinoma. KM01 stain was positive in about half of the cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatoblastoma and MHCC. It was positive in proliferated bile ducts around the capsule in the former two diseases but positive in the tumor cell of both parts of the cytoplasm in the latter. The histological positivity of ras p21 was high in all tumor cells of these three types of tumors. Negative absorbed CEA and KM01 in pseudoglandular hepatocellular carcinoma differentiated from MHCC and metastatic liver cancer. However these tumor markers were occasionally positive and nonspecific in cancer-like lesions, implying no advantage for differential diagnosis between hepatocellular carcinoma and apparent cancer-like lesions. The above results demonstrate that AFP, CEA and KM01 are effective for differentiating hepatocellular carcinoma among various hepatic tumors.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical study on hepatic tumors--KM01 stains compared with AFP, CEA, CA19-9 and RAS P21. 171 40

For the evaluation of differential diagnostic parameters, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n = 26), liver cell adenoma (n = 4), focal nodular hyperplasia (n = 8), and secondary liver tumors (n = 15) were studied with histologic and immunohistochemical methods. The study was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections, and, in some cases, also on frozen sections. The diagnostic contribution of the demonstration of alpha-fetoprotein, alpha-antitrypsin, hepatitis B surface antigen, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and biliary glycoprotein I (BGPI), compared with routine hematoxylin-eosin and reticulin stains was evaluated. For the differentiation between HCC, adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia, immunohistochemistry contributed less than the strict application of histologic criteria. Immunohistochemistry of CEA and BGPI, however, appeared to be of help in differentiating between primary and secondary liver tumors as follows: CEA is consistently absent in liver cell tumors, while a bile canalicular staining pattern was seen in 80% of HCC due to the presence of BGPI reactivity.
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PMID:Hepatocellular carcinoma, adenoma, and focal nodular hyperplasia. Comparative histopathologic study with immunohistochemical parameters. 243 May 47

Over the period of the past 9 years (1980-1988), 320 patients (mean age 60.9 +/- 13.2 years) suffering from various liver diseases have been examined. There were three main groups of patients: (1)--24 patients with primary liver cancer (PLC), 19 of them with hepato- and 5 with cholangiocellular carcinoma, (2)--153 patients with metastatic liver tumors (MLT), and (3)--143 patients with inflammatory liver diseases (ILD). The results of examination of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GMT) in these patients have been analyzed with the aim to evaluate their contribution to the differential diagnostics of tumorous and inflammatory liver processes. For the diagnostics of malignant hepatoma AFP appeared to the most specific test. The significance of other tests for diagnostics of malignant hepatic diseases is obviously limited. These tests are recommended to be considered (in the case of their increase) in close connection with the clinical image and additional examinations. The importance of correlation between cirrhosis and malignant hepatoma is also to be noticed. In spite of all this, we believe that in the case of positivity of the above tests the patients have to be carefully examined and followed up, and that the clinical course and the dynamic of the mentioned tests has to be thoroughly observed. Because of the specificity of values of the AFP-test with malignant hepatoma, we find it useful to perform this test in all patients with chronic liver diseases.
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PMID:Alpha-fetoprotein, carcinoembryonic antigen and various biochemical tests in patients with tumorous and inflammatory liver diseases. 246 43

A new immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using Freund's adjuvant and recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2) combined with conventional transarterial chemoembolization therapy was performed. In 16 patients with HCC and one patient with metastatic liver cancer receiving this therapy, decrease and suppression of reelevation of alpha-fetoprotein after therapy was observed. Disappearance of tumor thrombi of HCC in the main portal vein was observed in a patient, and decrease of carcinoembryonic antigen was also observed in a patient with metastatic liver cancer. The present therapy using Freund's adjuvant and IL-2 is likely to open a new avenue for the treatment of patients with advanced liver cancer.
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PMID:Immunotherapy using Freund's adjuvant and recombinant interleukin-2 combined with transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma. 247 56

Using 109 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCG), 34 cholangiocellular carcinomas (CCC), 4 mixed hepatocellular-cholangiocellular carcinomas (MHC) and 24 metastatic adenocarcinomas in the liver (MA), an immunohistochemical study on primary carcinoma of the liver was performed by means of the ABC method for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) and keratin. The material consisted of surgical specimens of Kosin Medical College including 50 HCC, 17 CCC and 1 MHC, surgical specimens of 20 HCC from the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan (UOEH) and autopsied specimens from UOEH that included 39 HCC, 17 CCC, 3 MHC and 24 MA. All the specimens were fixed with 10-15% formalin and embedded in paraplast manually at Kosin Medical College and by utilizing an automatic embedding machine with a decompressing procedure at UOEH. The antigenicity of TPA and keratin was preserved better in the specimens of Kosin Medical College than in those from UOEH. It is therefore assumed that manually embedded specimens are superior to specimens embedded by using an embedding machine with regard to the preservation of some antigenicities. The immunoreactivity of the 4 antigens in CCC cells was significantly higher than that in HCC cells, and the intracellular localization of antigens generally showed several characteristics in HCC and CCC. However, as the same localization of antigens is also seen in both HCC cells and CCC cells, it is considered that the immunohistochemical examination using plural antibodies is not always useful for a differential diagnosis between HCC and CCC, which is difficult in conventional sections. That TPA in HCC may be an oncodevelopmental antigen is suggested by the facts that the higher the grade of HCC, the higher the immunoreactivity of HCC cells, that hepatocytes with possible higher activity sometimes showed a positive reaction in the present study and that TPA is expressed in fetal hepatocytes in a fetus up to 20 weeks in the literature.
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PMID:[An immunohistochemical study on primary carcinoma of the liver]. 248 71

Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma is a rare form of primary liver cancer showing features of both hepatocellular and biliary epithelial differentiation. In a review of 24 cases of this tumor, three histologic types were encountered. Four cases were Type I or "collision tumors," apparently a coincidental occurrence of both hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma in the same patient. Twelve cases were Type II or "transitional tumors," in which there were areas of intermediate differentiation and an identifiable transition between hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Eight cases were Type III or "fibrolamellar tumors" which resembled the fibrolamellar variant of hepatocellular carcinoma but which also contained mucin-producing pseudoglands. Type III tumors differ from other combined tumors, occurring at a younger age, in the absence of cirrhosis, and having a slightly longer survival. Immunohistochemical (immunoperoxidase) staining for intracellular antigens showed that alpha-fetoprotein is a fairly specific, although insensitive, marker of hepatocellular differentiation in primary liver cancers, being present in 50% of typical hepatocellular carcinomas and in hepatocellular areas in 29% of combined tumors, but in no cholangiocarcinomas or cholangiocellular areas of combined tumors. Keratin is a good marker of biliary epithelial differentiation, being found in 90% of cholangiocarcinomas and in 52% of combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinomas, but in no hepatocellular carcinomas. Alpha-1-antitrypsin, fibrinogen, IgG, and carcinoembryonic antigen may be found in both hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and in combined tumors; these antigens are therefore of limited use in differential diagnosis.
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PMID:Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma. A histologic and immunohistochemical study. 257 78

Recently a glycolipid antigen known as gastrointestinal cancer antigen (GICA) has been proposed as a new seral marker of gastrointestinal and pancreatic tumours. This antigen is specifically recognised by a monoclonal antibody and biologically and immunologically distinguished by carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Out of 438 subjects including: 60 blood donors, 205 patients suffering from digestive tract tumours, subdivided into different organs 21 gastric ca's, 60 colon ca's, 100 pancreatic ca's and 24 liver cancers) 173 subjects with inflammatory gastrointestinal complaints, also divided by organ 18 gastric ulcers, 45 inflamed colons, 60 chronic pancreatitis and 50 liver cirrhosis). GICA and CEA radioimmunoassays were carried out (Sorin GICAK and CEAK) to evaluate sensitivity, specificity and predictive accuracy. Normal threshold levels were set at 30 ng/ml for CEA and 40 mu/ml for GICA. These levels represent the mean + 2DS of levels measured in 260 patients hospitalised for various benign and functional complaints and differ from cancer patient results by the largest amount. All blood donors, whether smokers or not, give lower values than these. Results show GICA gives a lower overall number of false positives than CEA (20% as against 9.6%). GICA diagnostic results were more accurate overall for the entire case sample examined. GICA gave higher percentage positives than CEA for individual tumour types: pancreatic ca (82% v 52%), liver cancer (70.8% v 20.8%) and gastric ca (47.6% v 33%). CEA appears to work better than GICA in the case of colorectal ca's (56% v 41%). Both markers were found to be more sensitive in the presence of tumours with metastases. GICA is the best currently available marker of pancreatic tumours thanks to its sensitivity, specificity and predictive accuracy. Although GICA gave good results in cases of liver cancer, these did not exceed those obtained with alpha foetoprotein. In the other cases of digestive tumours examined, a combination of GICA and CEA investigation techniques appears to be the best non-invasive method currently available for patient follow-up.
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PMID:[Comparison between the gastrointestinal tumor antigen and the carcinoembryonic antigen in diseases of the digestive tract]. 258 13


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