Clinicopathologic Correlation of Serum Tissue Polypeptide Specif ic Antigen in Hepato-cellular Carcinoma

Objective 　To clarify the clinicopathologic correlation of serum tissue polypeptide specific antigen ( TPS) in hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC) . Methods 　The serum levels of TPS and AFP were measured by EL ISA in 74 HCC patients, 35 patient s with liver cirrhosis, 22 patients with chronic hepatitis and 42 healthy subjects. A correlation between serum TPS levels and clinical, biochemical, and pathological features in HCC was sought and compared with that of AFP. Results 　Patient s with HCC had significantly higher TPS than healthy subject s ( P < 0. 05) . However, there was substantial overlap between patients with HCC, chronic hepatitis, and liver cirrhosis. Serum TPS levels were significantly correlated with direct bilirubin (DB), indirect bilirubin ( IB), alanine aminot ransferase (ALT), aspartate aminot ransferase (AST), γ-glutamyl t ransferase (γ-GT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and tumor size ( P <0. 05), but not with tumor number, portal invasion, ext rahepatic metastasis, clinical staging and histological differentiation ( P > 0. 05) . A significant correlation was observed between AFP and tumor size ( P= 0. 047), portal invasion ( P= 0. 029) or histological differentiation ( P = 0. 000) . Conclusion 　Serum TPS isn't significantly related to tumor invasiveness in patient s with HCC, but related to liver function. So we must interpret its presence in chronic liver disease cautiously.