MAY GLYPICAN-3 BE A NOVEL BIOMARKER AND POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGET IN HEPATOCELLULAR CANCER?

Abstract

The burden of advanced chronic liver disease is increasing worldwide, despite the recent advances in the management of chronic hepatitis viral infections. The abdominal ultrasound is the only approved method for surveillance of patients with cirrhosis, a premalignant condition for hepatocellular cancer (HCC). Although alpha fetoprotein has been known as a tumour marker for HCC, it is not commonly used for screening due to suboptimal sensitivity and specificity. There is a need to introduce a novel biomarker for definition of HCC in early stage and for prognostic and therapeutic response assessment. A review of the current evidences, encouraging the use of glypican-3 in management of patients with cirrhosis and HCC is presented.

Keywords

• hepatocellular carcinoma
• cirrhosis
• biomarkers
• glypican-3