Study of serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the role of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as a marker for diagnosis and early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).BackgroundHCC is one of the most common malignancies. VEGF is a master regulator of angiogenesis in normal and malignant tissues.Participants and methodsThis was a cross-sectional study that was carried out in the Internal Medicine Department of El Menoufia University Hospital, Menoufia, throughout the period from July 2016 to April 2017. This research included three groups: group 1 included 40 cirrhotic patients with HCC, group 2 included 40 patients with liver cirrhosis without HCC, and group 3 included 10 healthy volunteers as a control group. All patients were clinically analyzed, underwent different biochemical assessments and assessment of VEGF.ResultsPlotting of receiver operating curve implied that serum VEGF, at a cut-off of 872.5 pg/ml showed a diagnostic sensitivity of 83.3% and specificity of 81.7%. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.8402. As regards serum α-fetoprotein, the diagnostic performance at the cut-off (320 ng/ml) showed a diagnostic sensitivity of 79.41%, specificity of 60%, and AUC of 0.766. As regards combination of serum α-fetoprotein and VEGF, it showed a diagnostic sensitivity of 82.5%, specificity of 80%, and AUC of 0.8842.ConclusionVEGF is suggested to be a promising diagnostic marker with high sensitivity for HCC, which can be used in screening patients with cirrhosis for early detection of HCC.