To compare the expression of Golgi glycoprotein-73 (GP73) in blood serum and tissues of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), chronic hepatitis B (HBV) and healthy adults, and discuss the significance of GP73 in early HCC.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was used to detect the concentration of GP73 in serum of 30 healthy adults (normal group), 30 cases with HBV (hepatitis group) and 50 cases with early HCC (cancer group). Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the tissue expression of GP73 in 20 cases of normal liver, 30 cases with chronic HBV and 30 cases with early HCC.

(1) The serum concentration of GP73 in patients with early HCC was (143.01±38.09) μg/L, significantly higher than normal group (66.01±25.45) μg/L and hepatitis group (89.78±26.98) μg/L. And the concentration of GP73 increased gradually in normal, hepatitis and cancer groups (all P<0.01). (2) The expression of GP73 in early HCC tissues was higher than that in hepatitis and normal groups, the positive rates were 83.33%, 56.67% and 15.00%, respectively ( χ²=5.08, 22.74). And the positive rate of hepatitis group was higher than normal group, the difference was statistically significant ( χ²=8.68, P<0.05).

GP73 shows high expression in the early HCC, and GP73 in serum of HCC is significantly higher than that of chronic HBV patients and healthy adults. Meanwhile, the concentration of GP73 in serum of patients with chronic HBV is higher than that of healthy adults, suggesting that the increased expression of GP73 may be related with chronic HBV infection, and the early occurrence and development of HCC may be involved in GP73.