November 18, 2013

Evaluation of metabolite biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma through stratified analysis by gender, race and alcoholic cirrhosis

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Nov 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Xiao J, Zhao Y, Varghese RS, Zhou B, Di Poto C, Zhang L, Tadesse MG, Ziada DH, Shetty K, Ressom HW.

Source

Oncology, Georgetown University.

Abstract

Background: The effects of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on liver metabolism and circulating metabolites have been subjected to continuing investigation. This study compares the levels of selected metabolites in sera of HCC cases versus patients with liver cirrhosis and evaluates the influence of gender, race, and alcoholic cirrhosis on the performance of the metabolites as candidate biomarkers for HCC.

Methods: Targeted quantitation of 15 metabolites is performed by selected research monitoring (SRM) in sera from 89 Egyptian subjects (40 HCC cases and 49 cirrhotic controls) and 110 US subjects (56 HCC cases and 54 cirrhotic controls). Logistic regression models are used to evaluate the ability of these metabolites in distinguishing HCC cases from cirrhotic controls. The influences of gender, race, and alcoholic cirrhosis on the performance of the metabolites are analyzed by stratified logistic regression.

Results: Two metabolites are selected based on their significance to both cohorts. While both metabolites discriminate HCC cases from cirrhotic controls in males and Caucasians, they are insignificant in females and African Americans. One metabolite is significant in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis and the other in non-alcoholic cirrhosis.

Conclusions: The study demonstrates the potential of two metabolites as candidate biomarkers for HCC by combining them with α-fetoprotein and gender. Stratified statistical analyses reveal that gender, race, and alcoholic cirrhosis affect the relative levels of small molecules in serum.

Impact: The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of the influence of gender, race, and alcoholic cirrhosis in investigating small molecules as biomarkers for HCC.

PMID: 24186894  [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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