الفهرس 
Hepatocellular CarcinomaOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The current study aimed to clarify the significance of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)mRNA as a tumour marker for detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study included 25 patients with HCC and 30 patients with liver cirrhosis who were diagnosed and selected from Hepatology and Infectious Diseases Department, Benha Unviersity. Twenty five healthy volunteers with normal laboratory and image findings were included as a control group. All patients were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination (general & local), laboratory investigations (complete blood count, serum creatinine, liver function tests & serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP)), hepatitis viral markers (anti-HCV antibodies & HBs Ag ) and ultrasonography. Focal hepatic lesions with typical radiological features of hepatocellular carcinoma were detected in HCC patients by ultrasonography and Triphasic Contrast-enhanced Computed Tomography. All patients were classified to child A, B or C classes according to Child- Pugh classification and they were all Child- Pugh C class. Blood samples were collected from all patients and controls for relative quantitation of hTERT mRNA in plasma by real time PCR using SYBR GREEN using ABI7900 thermal cycler and data were analysed according to the RQ manager program ABI SDS software
The hTERT mRNA expression levels of HCC and cirrhotic groups were compared to the control samples with significant increase in HCC samples by 699 fold . However there was a slight increase in its level in cirrhosis patients as compared to controls but does not reach to be a significant level . There was a statistically significant positive correlation between hTERT mRNA level and both AFP & tumor size in HCC group ,however there is no statistically significant correlation with any other laboratory variable . The results of the present work suggest that this procedure was highly discriminating between healthy subjects and HCC patients.