Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2021; 13(11): 1753-1765
Published online Nov 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i11.1753
Circulating microRNA 9-3p and serum endocan as potential biomarkers for hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma
Amany Mohamed Salah Eldin Wahb, Mohamed El Kassas, Ahmed Kamal Khamis, Mostafa Elhelbawy, Nesreen Elhelbawy, Mona Salah Eldin Habieb
Amany Mohamed Salah Eldin Wahb, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo 11795, Egypt
Mohamed El Kassas, Department of Endemic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo 11795, Egypt
Ahmed Kamal Khamis, Mostafa Elhelbawy, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin Elkom 32512, Menoufia, Egypt
Nesreen Elhelbawy, Mona Salah Eldin Habieb, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin Elkoum 3511, Egypt
Author contributions: Wahb A designed the research; Wahb A and Habieb M performed the laboratory work, performed the RT-qPCR work and drafted the manuscript; El Kassas M, Khamis A and Elhelbawy M performed the case selection and the clinical and radiological evaluations; Habieb M supplied reagents; Elhelbawy N performed the data analysis, biological parameter assessment and performed the RT-qPCR work; all authors contributed equally to the manuscript drafting and revision; All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Menoufia University Faculty of Medicine Research Ethics Committee.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient or his/her guardians prior to the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No benefits in any form have been received or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohamed El Kassas, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Endemic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt.m_elkassas@hq.helwan.edu.eg
Received: April 16, 2021
Peer-review started: April 16, 2021
First decision: June 23, 2021
Revised: July 2, 2021
Accepted: September 1, 2021
Article in press: September 1, 2021
Published online: November 27, 2021
Processing time: 221 Days and 12.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The level of circulating microRNA 9-3p was significantly decreased in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients than in chronic liver disease and control groups. The level of serum endocan was significantly increased in HCC patients than in the cirrhotic and control groups, and there was better diagnostic performance of microRNA 9-3p and endocan than α-fetoprotein. The levels of microRNA 9-3p have a significant inverse correlation with endocan and vascular invasion and advanced stage of Barcelona Clinical Liver Cancer in the HCC group. Circulating microRNA 9-3p and endocan could be novel biomarkers for early diagnosis of hepatitis C virus-related HCC patients.