CANCER RESEARCH

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Cancer Weekly

Publisher:

CW

Issue:

December 24, 2002

Page:

2

2002 DEC 24 - by Nichols, senior medical writer - A marker commonly associated with neuroendocrine tumors could also be a useful prognostic indicator for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). According to N. Leone and coworkers at Molinette Hospital in Turin, Italy, serum chromogranin A levels rise in patients with epithelioid tumors that differentiate. High levels of the marker predict worse outcomes. The investigators now believe chromogranin A levels also rise in patients with HCC, signaling neuroendocrine differentiation in those tumors as well. Leone and colleagues analyzed chromogranin A levels in 79 patients with diagnoses of HCC and cirrhosis. "The etiology of cirrhosis was identified as due to hepatitis C virus infection in 47 patients, to hepatitis C virus and alcohol in 7, to alcohol alone in 14, to hepatitis C and B virus in 2, and to hepatitis B virus alone in 4," said Leone and colleagues. Five other patients had diagnoses of hemochromatosis or cryptogenic cirrhosis. Histological evaluations of liver biopsies showed most patients had a Child-Pugh score of class A. "Elevated serum levels of chromogranin A were found in 32 of 79 patients (43%)," Leone and colleagues noted. "Levels over 600 ng/ml were present in 7 of 76 patients (9.2%), all of whom had very high serum levels of alpha-fetoprotein." The data suggest that some HCCs may undergo neuroendocrine differentiation, researchers stated. "We propose further studies to ascertain whether serum levels of chromogranin A are useful as a prognostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma as in prostate cancer," they urged. The corresponding author for this study is N. Leone, Department of Gastroenterology, Ospedale Molinette, C.so Bramante 88, 10126 Turin, Italy. Key points reported in this study include: • Chromogranin A is a serum marker for prostate cancer and other cancers that undergo neuroendocrine differentiation • Nearly half of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma had elevated chromogranin A serum levels • Chromogranin A may be a prognostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma This article was prepared by Cancer Weekly editors from staff and other reports.