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Updated: Feb 3, 2026

A "Patient-Like" Orthotopic Syngeneic Mouse Model of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Metastasis
Published on: October 24, 2015
PIVKA-II as a Potential New Biomarker for Hepatocellular Carcinoma - A Pilot Study
Sarka Svobodova1,2, Marie Karlikova1, Ondrej Topolcan1
1Department of Immunochemistry, University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Czech Republic.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical contribution of protein induced by vitamin K absence (PIVKA-II) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnostics and compare it with alpha-foetoprotein (AFP), a routinely used tumour marker.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 332 participants were enrolled in this study: 64 with HCC, 48 with liver metastases of colorectal cancer origin, 42 with liver cirrhosis and 178 healthy individuals. Serum levels of PIVKA-II were measured using the chemiluminescent assay of the Architect 1000i System (Abbott, USA) and AFP levels using the chemiluminescent assay by DxI 800 (Beckman Coulter, USA).
Results:
PIVKA-II achieved better clinical sensitivity than AFP and the difference in this sensitivity was statistically significant. PIVKA-II achieved the best sensitivity (96.9%) in distinguishing between the HCC and control groups with the proposed cut-off value of 60 mAU/ml.
Conclusion:
Our recommendation is for addition of PIVKA-II to the routine panel of HCC tumour markers.
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