Study of Selenoprotein P as a Marker of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapeutic Intervention Outcome

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the main public health issue on a global scale, and its diagnosis remains difficult. HCC is now believed to be a common malignancy and a foremost cause of death in Egypt, owing to the high prevalence of cirrhosis associated with chronic HCV. Its incidence has increased in recent years, and it is expected that there will be continuous a rise in the number of occurrences. This study aimed to evaluate the role of serum selenoprotein P as a marker for diagnosis and follow up of therapeutic intervention outcome in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Methods: This was a prospective study that took place in Tropical medicine department, Tanta university. Seventy patients with cirrhosis of the liver were included, either with or without hepatocellular carcinoma. The studied patients were divided into group I A of 20 HCC patients who underwent HCC therapeutic intervention, those patients were evaluated before and after their therapeutic intervention, group I B of 25 HCC patients who did not undergo HCC therapeutic intervention as unsuitable and group II of 25 patients with liver cirrhosis as controls

Results: Selenoprotein P was decreased significantly in group IB than group IA and group II (P <0.001) and was significantly decreased in group IA than group II (P <0.001). At cut-off <11 ng/ml selenoprotein P can differentiate between HCC and liver cirrhosis with 80% sensitivity, 76% specificity, 85.7% PPV, 67.9% NPV and 0.851 AUC. After therapeutic intervention, increased serum level of selenoprotein P can be an indicator of good response to treatment. While decreased serum selenoprotein P level can be an indicator of poor response (P <0.001).

Conclusions: Serum selenoprotein P could be useful as a possible diagnostic biomarker for HCC. Detecting that biomarker in serum is a simple, non-invasive procedure that is more realistic than measuring it in tissue samples procured only through procedures that are invasive. Selenoprotein P could be used as a predictive marker of better therapeutic intervention outcome in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Additionally, our findings imply that Se may be utilised as a supportive treatment for HCC by influencing the level of selenoprotein P.