Background and study aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma is a challenging malignancy of global importance as it is considered the 2^nd cause of mortality worldwide. This study aimed at finding additional blood biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma that may help in early diagnosis in Egyptian patients‎‎.
Methods: This comparative analytical study was conducted at the Clinical Pathology laboratory at Suez Canal University Hospital, Ismailia. A total sample of 88 participants were recruited by simple random sampling and divided into 4 equal groups, early and intermediate, late-stage HCC, cirrhotic patients without HCC and apparently healthy control. All study groups were subjected to an interview questionnaire and laboratory investigations like ALT, AST, PT, albumin, total bilirubin, INR, AFP and AKR1B10.
Results: The mean age was 63.6± 5.1 years 67.6± 5.9 years, 65.1± 4.1 years and 64.9± 7.0 years among four groups respectively. Males were higher among the HCC group. AFP showed significant differences between the late HCC and three other groups. AKR1B10 was significantly higher in early to moderate HCC than the other three groups. AKR1B10 could significantly detect early to moderate hepatocellular carcinoma with sensitivity of 72.7%, specificity of 89.4% at cut off value ≥ 0.91ng/ml. While AFP had a lower diagnostic value for detecting early to moderate hepatocellular carcinoma as it had sensitivity of 63.6%, specificity of 74.2% at cut off value ≥6.9 ng/ml.
Conclusion: AKR1B10 can help in early recognition of hepatocellular carcinoma in highly suspicious patients with good diagnostic value‎‎‎‎‎‎‎.