CDH1 gene as a prognostic biomarker in HCV (genotype 4) induced hepatocellular carcinoma in the Egyptian patients

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have indigent in prognosis tools due to being diagnosed at the latest stages. It's crucial to identify efficient biomarkers that can get better overall diagnosis and treatment of HCC. In the current work, we examined prototypical type I cadherin (CDH1) expression in chronic liver disease (CLD) due to HCV genotype 4 infection with/without cirrhosis and HCC patients as an attempt to evaluate the potential benefits of this new circulating, noninvasive, prognostic, biomarkers for liver cirrhosis and carcinogenesis of Egyptian patients. Eighty subjects were included in this study, divided into two groups; Group I (40 patients) were classified into Group Ia (CLD without cirrhosis, n = 18) and Group Ib (CLD with cirrhosis, n = 22), Group II (CLD patients with HCC, n = 20), and control (Healthy volunteer, n = 20). The expression of CDH1 gene was analyzed by Real-Time PCR. CDH1 showed a persistent and significant downregulation in all diseased groups, which was inconsistency with the progression of the disease toward the HCC stage. In addition, it showed a diagnostic ability to discriminate between cases of HCC against CLD with/without cirrhosis (p < 0.001). Furthermore, CDH1 gene could be considered as a predictor and prognostic parameters for HCC (OR = 0.15, 95% CI 0.033–0.677, p = 0.01), but it was not suitable for use as a predictor for cirrhotic patients. Finally, the gradual decline of CDH1 gene expression with disease progression prompts us to use it as noninvasive prognostic biomarkers for HCV induced liver cirrhosis and HCC in HCV Genotype 4 patients.