الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
HCC is the predominant form of primary malignancy of the liver. In many parts of the world including Egypt, it is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality.
Despite knowing the high-risk populations for HCC development, the lack of sensitive and specific biomarkers hinders early detection of the disease at a curable stage. Therefore, the identification of new diagnostic markers for HCC becomes a top priority.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of serum vimentin level and methylation of vimentin gene in HCC in Egyptian patients.
In order to achieve this goal, 40 HCC patients were included in the study and were divided into two groups; Group IA consisted of 20 patients with metastatic HCC and group IB consisted of 20 patients with non metastatic HCC. The diagnosis of HCC was based on serum levels of AFP, ultrasonography and triphasic CT. The study also included 20 cirrhotic patients without evidence of HCC (Group II) and 20 healthy subjects as controls (Group III).
All patients had thorough clinical evaluation. Abdominal ultrasonographic examination was performed to assess the characteristics of HCC. The severity of liver disease was graded as class A, B and C according to Child-Pugh classification. The HCC stage was assessed as Stage 0-6 using numerical scoring system of the CLIP classification.
The following investigations were performed for all patients and healthy subjects:
• Routine laboratory tests, including CBC and liver function profiles.
• Hepatitis virus markers including HCV antibody and HBsAg.
• Serum AFP using commercially available ELISA kit.
• Serum vimentin concentration determined by ELISA.
• DNA was extracted from serum of all patients and healthy subjects. Then, the methylation status of VIM gene in the samples was assessed by real-time PCR.
Statistical analysis of the studied parameters showed the following results:
• Serum AFP level was significantly higher in groups IA, IB and II compared with group III. Also it was significantly higher in groups IA and IB than in group II and in