Key result
Systemic serum chemerin levels did not discriminate between colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma, though levels were elevated in tumor patients with comorbidities.
Why the study?
Does serum chemerin differentiate colorectal liver metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma?
Observational (n=117)
Does serum chemerin differentiate colorectal liver metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma?
Systemic chemerin levels do not differentiate between colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma, though they are elevated in tumor patients with certain comorbidities.
This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.
The chemoattractant adipokine chemerin is related to the metabolic syndrome, which is a risk factor for different cancers. Recent studies provide evidence that chemerin is an important molecule in colorectal cancer (CRC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Serum chemerin is high in CRC patients and low in HCC patients and may serve as a differential diagnostic marker for HCC and liver metastases from CRC. To this end, serum chemerin was measured in 36 patients with CRC metastases, 32 patients with HCC and 49 non-tumor patients by ELISA. Chemerin serum protein levels were, however, similar in the three cohorts. Serum chemerin was higher in hypertensive than normotensive tumor patients but not controls. Cancer patients with hypercholesterolemia or hyperuricemia also had increased serum chemerin. When patients with these comorbidities were excluded from the calculation, chemerin was higher in CRC than HCC patients but did not differ from controls. Chemerin did not correlate with the tumor markers carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 and alpha-fetoprotein in both cohorts and was not changed with tumor-node-metastasis stage in HCC. Chemerin was not associated with hepatic fat, liver inflammation and fibrosis. To conclude, systemic chemerin did not discriminate between CRC metastases and HCC. Comorbidities among tumor patients were linked with elevated systemic chemerin.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Chemerin may aid differential diagnosis of HCC versus CRC metastases; hypothesis-generating and needs prospective validation before clinical use.
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Feder et al. (2019) conducted an observational in Colorectal liver metastases and Hepatocellular carcinoma (n=117). Serum chemerin vs. Non-tumor controls and between tumor types was evaluated on Serum chemerin protein levels. Systemic serum chemerin levels did not discriminate between colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma, though levels were elevated in tumor patients with comorbidities.
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