부산대학교 도서관

OBJECTIVES: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronically infected patients occur in about 3% of the world population with an increased risk to developing liver cirrhosis and cancer. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a known human carcinogen, has a synergistic effect on HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to evaluate the association between AF B1M1 serum level and HCC in post-HCV-infected Egyptian patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Group I: 25 HCV-infected patients with HCC; group II: 25 HCV-infected patients without HCC, as well as control group of 25 healthy individuals. RESULTS: Serum levels of α fetoprotein (AFP) and AFM1 were highly significant in group I than in group II and the control group (P<0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between the serum level of AFP and AFM1 in the studied groups (P<0.01). Concerning the correlation between serum AFM1 level and different quantitative variables, there was a significant positive correlation between serum AFM1 level and quantitative HCV-RNA values (level of viremia) (P<0.05). There was also a significant positive correlation between serum AFM1 level and size, number of HFL, and portal vein patency in group I. AFM1 serum level had less diagnostic performance in differentiating HCC from the HCV group than AFP. CONCLUSION: AFM1 serum level had a diagnostic performance in differentiating HCC from non-HCC cases but with less sensitivity and specificity value than AFP.