To assess the potential role of serum serotonin level in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis. A case-control study that involved 100 Egyptian adults. Subjects were divided into 4 groups: Group I: 21 patients with late-stage HCC on top of liver cirrhosis, Group II: 28 patients with early-stage HCC on top of liver cirrhosis, Group III: 26 patients with cirrhosis with no evidence of HCC, and Group IV: 25 healthy age- and sex-matched subjects were as a control group. Serum serotonin level was determined in all recruited subjects using high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescent detection method. Alpha-fetoprotein had a statistically significant elevation in group I with a median of 1300 ng/L (195-2544 ng/L) compared to groups II and III (P ≤ 0.01). Regarding serum serotonin level, it had a statistically significant elevation in group II with a median of 275 ng/μL (204.7-400 ng/μL) compared to groups I, III, and IV with median of 33 ng/μL (30-50 ng/μL), 50 ng/μL (30-60 ng/μL), and 102 (85-150 ng/μL), respectively (P = 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve showed that serum serotonin at cutoff value of 108 ng/μL had a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 92.3% in discriminating early-stage HCC from cirrhosis. Serum serotonin level is a rapid, sensitive, noninvasive diagnostic biomarker for the detection of early-stage HCC.

中文翻译：

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血清5-羟色胺作为肝细胞癌的潜在诊断标志物。

评估血清5-羟色胺水平在肝细胞癌（HCC）诊断中的潜在作用。一项病例对照研究涉及100名埃及成年人。将受试者分为4组：第一组：21例肝硬化后晚期HCC患者；第二组：28例肝硬化后早期HCC患者；第三组：26例无肝硬化证据的肝硬化患者HCC和第IV组：将25名年龄和性别匹配的健康受试者作为对照组。使用高效液相色谱-荧光检测法测定所有入选受试者的血清5-羟色胺水平。甲胎蛋白在I组中具有统计学上的显着升高，与II组和III组相比，中位数为1300 ng / L（195-2544 ng / L）。关于血清5-羟色胺水平，第二组的中位数为275 ng /μL（204.7-400 ng /μL），与第一，第三和第四组的中位数为33 ng /μL（30-50 ng /μL）相比，具有统计学意义的升高， 50 ng /μL（30-60 ng /μL）和102（85-150 ng /μL）（P = 0.001）。受试者工作特征曲线表明，血清中羟色胺的临界值在108 ng /μL时，对早期肝癌和肝硬化的鉴别灵敏度为100％，特异性为92.3％。血清5-羟色胺水平是一种快速，灵敏，无创的诊断性生物标志物，可用于早期肝癌的检测。受试者工作特征曲线表明，血清中羟色胺的临界值在108 ng /μL时，对早期肝癌和肝硬化的鉴别灵敏度为100％，特异性为92.3％。血清5-羟色胺水平是一种快速，灵敏，无创的诊断性生物标志物，可用于早期肝癌的检测。受试者工作特征曲线表明，血清中羟色胺的临界值在108 ng /μL时，对早期肝癌和肝硬化的鉴别灵敏度为100％，特异性为92.3％。血清5-羟色胺水平是一种快速，灵敏，无创的诊断性生物标志物，可用于早期肝癌的检测。