Monoclonal Antibody Helps Detect Liver Cancer

A monocloncal antibody is being used to aid the identification of glypican-3 (GPC3) in human tissues and serum. GPC3 expression is an indication of primary liver cancer.

GPC3 is a member of the glypican family of glycosyl phosphatidylinositol-anchored cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans. The 1G12 monoclonal antibody has been used to assess GPC3 expression in malignant and non-malignant liver tissue samples and for enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) detection of GPC3 in the serum. GPC3 is expressed at the protein level by immunohistochemistry in most cases of primary liver cancer including small tumors, but is undetectable in normal liver and benign hepatic lesions. GPC3 is significantly elevated in the serum of a large proportion of patients with primary liver cancer. The monoclonal antibody product was developed by BioMosaics (Burlington, VT, USA).

Primary liver cancer, or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), is one of the most common and aggressive malignant tumors worldwide, causing an estimated one million deaths annually. Over 430,000 new cases of HCC are diagnosed each year. The main causative agents are hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), as well as alcoholic cirrhosis, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is associated with obesity and diabetes. The incidence of HCC has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years and is expected to continue to rise over the next decade.

"Because many liver cancer deaths may be prevented with early detection and prompt treatment, BioMosaics recognizes the importance of developing new diagnostic tests that could more effectively target a specific type of cancer in the early stages. Preliminary clinical research studies indicate that detection of GPC3 may provide good sensitivity and specificity as a tumor marker, and may ultimately contribute to fulfilling unmet medical diagnostic needs for a devastating cancer,” said Ronald D. Guttmann M.D., executive vice president of clinical development at BioMosaics.




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