الفهرس 
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Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fifth most common malignancy in the world and the third most common cause of cancer related deaths worldwide.
The search for reliable and efficient biomarkers for a diagnostic and prognostic evaluation is still an open issue. AFP is still universally used, although several studies have repeatedly demonstrated that both the sensitivity and specificity of the marker are not high enough to justify its routine use, despite some recent attempt to rehabilitate the marker. Better performance are provided by AFP in defining the prognosis of HCC patients.
The discovery of a novel class of tumor markers constituted by circulating IgM antibodies complexed with serpin squamous cell carcinoma antigen has been reported as a promising serological marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.
The aim of our study was to assess the serum level of SCCA-IgM in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis related to HCV infection.
One hundred patients with chronic HCV related liver disease were enrolled in this study. They were divided into three groups:
group I: chronic hepatitis (13 patients).
group III: Liver cirrhosis (37 patients).
group III: HCC on top of liver cirrhosis (50 patients).
Patients with liver cirrhosis were further classified according to Child-Pugh grading into Child’s class A, B and C.
All patients were subjected to thorough clinical history and examination, laboratory assessment and abdominal ultrasonography.
MDCT abdomen was done for those with ultrasonographic findings of hepatic focal lesion.
Serum alpha-fetoprotein and SCCA-IgM levels were evaluated for all the patients.
We found significant differences in the mean serum levels of both alpha-fetoprotein and SCCA-IgM between the three patients groups; with the highest mean level in patients with HCC, then patients with liver cirrhosis and the lowest level was in patients with chronic hepatitis. However; it was found that there was no statistically significant difference in the mean serum level of alpha-fetoprotein between patients with Child’s A liver cirrhosis and those with Child’s B & C liver cirrhosis, on contrary to the significant high mean serum level of SCCA-IgM in patients with Child’s B & C liver cirrhosis than those with Child’s A liver cirrhosis.