Mucin expression in liver cancer

Increasing incidence, difficulties in early diagnosis, and a high mortality rate in liver cancer (LC) determine the relevance of studying the mechanisms of its development. The aim of the work is to evaluate the expression of high molecular weight glycoproteins MUC-1, MUC-13 in liver cancer. The object of study is LC tissue samples of 65 patients from the archives and 34 blood serum samples from patients with morphologically confirmed LC. The age of subjects was 26– 97 years. The level of antibodies to MUC-1 and MUC-13 was studied by ELISA. The reference value ranges of MUC-1 (0.250 ± 0.10 ng/ml) and MUC-13 (0.321 ± 0.13 ng/ml) in the blood serum of healthy individuals were established. The concentration of antibodies to MUC-1 and MUC-13 in the blood serum in RP was significantly higher than that in practically healthy individuals. The concentration of MUC-1 and MUC-13 in the LC tumor tissue was higher than that in the blood serum of apparently healthy individuals and LC patients. With a confirmed LC diagnosis, the level of antibodies to MUC-1 in the blood serum, which exceeds 0.373 ng/ml, and the level of antibodies to MUC-13, which is more than 0.939 ng/ml, may indicate a high risk of a tumor process.