Objective：To investigate the role of detection of circulation alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) mRNA and telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Methods：In patients with HCC, benign liver tumors, chronic liver diseases, and healthy volunteers, expression of circulation AFP mRNA and telomerase activity in PBMC were detected using nest reverse transcriptase-PCR (Nest RT-PCR) or PCR-ELISA respectively.
Results：(1) All the patients with benign liver tumors (n=10), chronic liver diseases (n=30), and healthy volunteers (n=30) had negative expression of circulation AFP mRNA, and the positive rate of circulation AFP mRNA in patients with HCC (73.3%, 22/30) (all P＜0.001). (2) In patients with HCC, the positive rate of telomerase activity in PBMC (93.3%，28/30) was significantly higher than those in patients with benign liver tumors (40.0%，4/10), chronic liver diseases (6.7%, 2/30), and healthy volunteers (0) (P＜0.01, <0.001 and <0.001, respectively). (3) In patients with HCC, circulation AFP mRNA was significantly positively correlated to telomerase activity in PBMC (r=0.6742, P＜0.05).
Conclusions：AFP mRNA represents a specific indicator of circulation HCC cells. However, detection of telomerase activity appears to be more sensitive. Combined detection of AFP mRNA and telomerase activity can have important clinical significance.