Life Science Journal, 2011 ;8 (4) http://www.lifesciencesite.com http://www.sciencepub.net/life lifesciencej@gmail.com 198 Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Transforming Growth Factor β1 (TGF- β 1) as Predictors of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in HCV Related Liver Cirrhosis Ayman El Shayeb 1 , Akram Deghady 2 , Abdel-Aziz Belal 3 and Salah Eldin-Eldesoky 4 1 Tropical Medicine, 2 Clinical Pathology, 3 Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine and 4 Radiodiagnosis Departments, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University drayman65@yahoo.com Abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most serious complications of liver cirrhosis. Therefore, evaluation of biomarkers that predicts early the occurrence of HCC in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) induced liver cirrhosis is of great clinical value from the diagnostic and prognostic points of view. Aim: The aim of this work was to study serum levels of TGF-β1 and VEGF in cirrhotic HCV patients with and without HCC. Subjects and methods: This research was conducted on 30 patients with chronic HCV and liver cirrhosis (Group I), 30 patients with HCC on top of HCV induced liver cirrhosis (Group II) and 20 healthy controls. .Serum TGF- β1 and VEGF were measured by ELISA. Results: Mean VEGF and TGF- β1 levels were significantly higher in patients (Groups I and II) than controls. Furthermore, their values were significantly higher in HCC cases (Group II) than in those with liver cirrhosis (Group I). Significant positive correlations were noticed between each of TGF- β1 and VEGF and Child Pugh score (p˂0.05). Moreover, statistically significant positive correlations were observed between size of hepatic focal lesions and each of TGF -β1 and VEGF in group II patients (p˂0.05) Conclusion: Serum TGF-β1 and VEGF reflect well the degree of hepatic dysfunction. Their serial measurements might be of diagnostic and predictive value for occurrence of HCC in patients with chronic HCV induced liver cirrhosis. [Ayman El Shayeb , Akram Deghady , Abdel-Aziz Belal and Salah Eldin-Eldesoky Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Transforming Growth Factor β 1 (TGF- β 1) as Predictors of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in HCV Related Liver Cirrhosis]. Life Science Journal. 2011;8(4):198-204] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com . Keywords: Chronic hepatitis C, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver cirrhosis, angiogenesis 1. Introduction HCC is the most common primary malignant liver tumor. It has a fulminant course and a poor prognosis (1) . Many etiological factors have been linked to the occurrence of HCC like liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B or C infection and alcohol intake (2) . Development of HCC is related to chronic necroinflammatory liver process. The time elapsed between acquiring hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and HCC development varies between 10-15 years (3) . Moreover, 97% of patients with chronic HCV and HCC have liver cirrhosis (4) . Factors that predispose to HCC among HCV infected individuals include male gender, old age, HBV and HIV coinfection and heavy alcohol intake as well as HCV genotype and quasi species (5-7) Serum concentration of a variety of cytokines and cytokines antagonists are elevated in patients with liver disease (8) . Some have been incriminated in the occurrence of liver cancer. TGF- β1 over expression in transgenic mice is associated with 60% incidence of hepatoma (9) . TGF- β1 is an important mediator which plays a role in the development, growth and progression of HCC (10) . Tumor angiogenesis is important for growth and spread of cancer and is controlled by angiogenetic factors. HCC is a hypervascular tumor with rich blood supply; therefore, circulating angiogenesis markers have been studied not only as diagnostic but also as predictors and prognostic markers in cancer patients (11) . VEGF is the most potent, directly acting mediator of angiogenesis in both physiological and pathological conditions (12) . Aim of the work This study was planned to evaluate serum VEGF and TGF- β1in patients with chronic HCV induced liver cirrhosis with or without hepatocellular carcinoma and their correlation with the size of hepatic focal lesion as determined by triphasic CT. 2. Subjects and Methods Sixty chronic HCV patients were divided into two groups according to history, examination, ultrasound and biopsy whenever possible; Group I: 30 chronic HCV patients with liver cirrhosis.