Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Biochemistry

Aim: Liver cancer grows silently with mild or no symptoms until the disease is advanced and with little hope of cure. Therefore, the only hope of effective treatment lies in early detection of the disease, or screening for high-risk population. Hepatitis C virus is the most common risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among Egyptians. The current work was designed to determine the levels of galectin-3 in sera of patients suffering from HCC with different grades and stages, and the most known predisposing diseases; namely hepatitis C virus infection (HCV). Our ultimate goal is to screen for the people who are at high risk to develop HCC especially the patients of HCV and to diagnose it at early stages. Subjects and Methods: the current study was carried out on 75 individuals divided into the following groups: group 1: Normal control (n=12), group 2: HCV (n=29) and group 3: HCC (n=34). Patients were subdivided into cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic in groups 2 and 3. Complete clinic-pathological data were taken for each individual to confirm diagnosis. Sera were subjected to quantitative determinations of different parameters including alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and galectin-3 (gal-3)

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